Force
by Mara Jade Jedi
Summary: Sam's alone in a Galaxy far, far away... Star Wars Crossover.
1. Default Chapter

**TITLE: **Force

**AUTHOR:** Mara Jade

**EMAIL:** PG.-13

**CATEGORY:** Crossover/General/Romance/Action/Adventure

**SUMMARY:** Sam's all alone in a Galaxy Far, Far, Away…

**SPOILERS: **Probably eventually most episodes, and incorporating tidbits of new seasons if any spoilers inspire me as this will end up in the future.

**WORD COUNT: **123, 857

**FILE SIZE: **115mb

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** This is the revised version (as of 24th March 2005), taking into account the comments of the oh-so-many wonderful, wonderful, wonderful reviewers. I was so astounded by the response that I got and I cannot thank you enough!

Particular thanks go to Dietcokechic, Pokey1984. Feonixfyre and Heartnut for their constructive criticisms at the very end.

There is one person without whom this would never have happened and so much, much Kudos to her for putting up with me all the way through and beta'ing and for inspiring me to finally give into the plot bunnies that started it. So, three cheers for Binksbabe!

Chapters 28 and 29 are the only ones with anything much more than cosmetic changes in them.

**DISCLAIMER: **The characters mentioned in this story are the property of ShowTime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and back story are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. The 'Kalix' belong to Timothy Zahn. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Sam looked up; she had the uncanny feeling that some one was watching her, someone without her best intentions in mind. She looked surreptitiously out of the corner of her eye, trying to identify who, or what, it was. Without turning her head or making it obvious that she was looking, she spotted the person in question. The short, fat, greasy-looking man that was headed her way was leering and weaving drunkenly, crashing into several other patrons and leaving a trail of angry, weapon-bearing beings.

Flicking her eyes back to the bar in front of her and her almost finished Corellian Ale, she reached down and made sure the safety clip on her holster was undone before draining the last of her drink.

She didn't even flinch when an unshaven, grease-lined face was thrust into her field of vision and resisted the urge to gag when a wave of rancid breath washed over her.

"Hey there, how 'bout I buy you another?" he said, leaning on the counter in what he assumed was an inviting pose.

"No, thanks; I was just leaving," she told him, calmly putting her glass back down.

"No, I think you're gonna sit here and keep me company a little while longer, lady," he replied, clutching at her left arm. Rolling her eyes, her arm darted down and pulled out her blaster and, in one smooth motion, she pointed right between his eyes, faster than the unctuous man could blink.

The man stood there, jaws wobbling and eyes crossing as he tried to comprehend the DL-44 that was now pressed into the oily skin of his forehead.

Sam could practically see the cogs whirring as the man weighed up the pro's and con's of trying to…woo…someone who was obviously trigger happy.

"You're right; I think I'll just, uh, go now…" he said, his bravado obliterated, before gently easing away from the business end of the weapon.

Glancing at her wrist chrono, Sam decided she'd have another ale and then head out into the murky streets of Nar Shadaa, the smugglers' moon.

She didn't look up when the server droid delivered her drink but took the cold glass in her hands, pointedly ignoring the dirty tide marks that ran the length of it. She stared morosely at her hands, eyes tracing the hundreds of thin, white scars that crossed her hands, a constant reminder of three years spent in the dark, painstakingly packing ebony Glitterstim threads, lining them up minutely so that the crystals that edged them wouldn't grind it into a powder, and trying to stop those same crystals from slicing her hands open every ten minutes.

She shifted on her stool, uncomfortable of the direction that her thoughts had taken her, the weight of her blaster against her thigh now a comfort to her.

She thought, once again, of the friends and family that had been left when Shivrall Telk had taken her, along with a group of natives, through the Stargate and had then forced them to work in the Glitterstim processing plant on some forsaken rock that they called a planet. She'd been unable to escape – the atmosphere outside the factory was rancid and volatile and no one could have survived.

She was brought suddenly out of her musings when someone sat on the stool next to her. She bit back a sigh, hoping they were just going to sit and drink and not bother her.

She spared him a glance and was surprised to see that he didn't look like any of the usual suspects that frequented the cantinas on the moon. Sandy haired and quite small, he nevertheless had a look of quiet power about him that suggested he could handle himself perfectly well.

"Not what you expected?" he asked, much to her surprise and without turning to look at her. When she didn't reply, he turned to look at her, revealing startling blue eyes and a slightly weathered face that looked vaguely familiar.

"Uh, not exactly," she replied, at a loss for words. He remained silent for a few moments, only speaking to thank the droid for delivering his hot chocolate and Sam returned to her morose contemplation of her glass.

"Looks like you made an enemy," he suddenly commented, a touch of concern filtering into his voice.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Sam muttered, reaching once more for her blaster and fishing out a few credits to pay for her drinks as she did so.

The spurned man and two of his friends were heading towards them, intent-full leers on their faces.

But before she could get her blaster more than halfway out of its holster, a tall man and a Wookie stepped out in front of her. The man had his arms crossed and a blaster - much like her own - in easy reach in a thigh holster.

The three would-be assailants stopped in their tracks, the leers falling from their faces. They looked up at the towering column of angry fur that made up the Wookie and seemed to shrink slightly. The Wookie roared once, the meaning obviously lost on the men, but crystal clear to Sam, who had been working with a group of Wookies for the last year, after being sold by Telk.

It involved dismemberment with a blunt eating implement if they so much as looked at her – Sam – again.

The three men got the gist, however, and were retreating even as the tall man translated.

Sam stared for a moment before shaking her head slightly and throwing the credits onto the counter. Re-securing her blaster in its holster, she nodded at the sandy-haired man and threw a word of thanks at the Wookie and his companion.

The sandy-haired man, the tall man, and the Wookie stood together and watched the short-haired blonde leave, her form-fitting black pants and navy top helping her to blend into the night, her knee-high militaristic boots making no sound as she marched off into the streets.

"You sure that's why we're here, kid?" said the tall man.

"Yes, I'm not sure just how yet, but she's important in the future; that's why the Force sent me here," the sandy-haired man replied.

The Wookie whined a comment at them.

"The fur-ball's got a point. Why are we just sat here, wondering? Let's go," replied the tall man, heading after Sam, his two companions following.

* * *

Sam walked out into the night, trying not to breathe too deeply in the polluted air. Glancing left and right, she stepped out into the flow of beings, both human – the predominant species of this galaxy, or so she'd been told – and dozens of species of aliens.

She followed the walkway, heading back to her lodgings and wondering idly what had prompted her to go out tonight; it wasn't something that she usually did.

After Telk had sold her, and a few others to her current 'master' – Terrell - she had been allowed a little more freedom, though she had a slave implant in her that meant that if she tried to get away, her head, and those of all the workers on her team would explode quite spectacularly. Terrell could get more humans easily enough, though apparently not from Telk any more.

Terrell had picked out a set of the healthiest from the Spice workers and had set them to work with a Wookie Task Force to carry out jobs for him, mostly mechanical jobs that required both the strength of the Wookies and the dexterity of the humans.

Sam became suddenly aware that she was being followed. Carefully maneuvering herself so that her tails wouldn't realise they had been found out, she looked behind herself, instantly seeing and recognising the three 'helpers' from the cantina…they stood out like a sore thumb.

Taking stock of her surroundings, she ducked into an alley and drew her blaster. Setting it to stun – she wanted to find out why they were following her – she made her way down the alley. About 50 metres down, where no one else followed, she turned and aimed, half hidden behind a garbage compacter and waited.

It wasn't long before the stalkers turned the corner and she reacted immediately, squeezing off a bolt of red energy at each of them – three at the larger, more resilient Wookie.

To her amazement, the smaller, sandy haired man who had led the three onto the alley, activated a small silver cylinder, which sprouted a bright green energy blade, which he used to deftly deflect all five bolts of energy.

Sam stared at them in shock, blaster still held ready as they steadily advanced on her. The smaller man, in a show of trust and openness, shut down his energy weapon.

"We don't want to hurt you," said the smaller man. "I'm Luke Skywalker. This is Han Solo." He gestured the taller man, who nodded at her. "And this is Chewbacca." The large Wookie whined a greeting at her.

_That explains why they look familiar, Sam_ thought, eyeing them warily and still not lowering her weapon. _Their faces are plastered over all the TV – Holovid units everywhere._ A few more pieces of information fell into place as she dredged up memories of the scant few holo-news programs she'd watched. "_Only a Jedi can handle a Lightsaber!"_ She remembered one of the Wookies – Dentralla – telling her once.

"What do you want?" She asked somewhat gruffly, finally lowering her weapon, though not putting it away.

"I just want to try something, a test of sorts," he explained, calmly stepping forwards.

"What kind of test?"

"A Force test."

Sam gave him a blank look. "A what?" Luke Skywalker smiled at her and stopped right in front of her, the Wookie a foot or so behind him. Sam, re-assured that her instincts weren't screaming at her to run, finally holstered her blaster and nodded to him.

He stood in front of her, a shade smaller than she was.

"Just relax," he told her, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. Sam stared at him, puzzled for a moment, but relaxed and closed her own eyes, wondering briefly why she trusted him so much. She felt a negligible sensation in her mind but ignored it.

_Maybe it's because he reminds me of Daniel a little, _she thought before reprimanding herself for letting her thoughts take her that way. She opened her eyes when she heard a rush of wind, a thump and two grunts – one Wookie and the other human.

She stared in shock to see Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca lying in a heap together more than twenty feet away.

She darted over to help the grinning Han Solo as he tried to pull both friends to their feet at the same time.

"Guess your Force didn't tell you that one was coming, huh kid?"

Luke shot a withering glare at Han and massaged his ribs before looking to Sam.

"You have a powerful Force potential," he told her with a boyish grin. "How would you like to come and train at the academy?" he asked her.

Sam grinned momentarily before the smile was transformed into an almighty frown and a look of anguish. "I can't," she told them. "Sorry." She turned and walked off, stalking angrily away from them and cursing under her breath, moving into the flow of beings.

"Anger leads to the dark side," Luke reprimanded her as he caught up with her.

"Look," she said, whirling to face him in the middle of the pedestrian crowded street. "I said I can't, now could you just leave me alone!" she was nearly yelling, and he could sense the pain in her.

"Why not?" he asked, calmly, some part of his mind alert to the presence of the beings that parted to swirl around them. Sam knew this as well and grabbed his arm, pulling him back into the alley that they had only just vacated, much to the surprise of Han and Chewbacca. Sam turned to face him, suppressing the pain and disappointment that she felt. _I could have gotten out of this hellhole; I could have done something useful!_ she thought bitterly.

"You really want to know why?" Luke nodded, still calm and Sam reached up and pulled down the collar of her navy jacket, exposing the flesh just above her left collarbone.

The black tank top she wore underneath the jacket was just visible as she revealed a scar that looked oddly like a bullet hole just above the slightly too-visible collarbone. "This is why. I'm a slave. I don't own my life, I can't chose where it goes, and I can't choose what I do with it. If I leave, I will die, and so will the other slaves - innocent people – so just drop it, would you?"

Leaving a stunned Luke, Han, and Chewie in her wake, she stormed off. If she had thought about it any great detail, she would have realised how much her experiences over the last four years, in a harsh world full of ruthless criminals - who were unafraid to kill - had changed her.


	2. Release

**Chapter 2 – Release**

No one paid Sam any attention when she stormed angrily into the shared lodgings. They were too afraid of getting attached to anyone because they knew that sooner or later, that person would die. It was just a matter of whether or not they died first.

Sam had been there the longest; most died within a few weeks of arriving, though some lasted a whole month. Very few understood technology to the level that Sam did, though. They were mostly from backwater planets, out of the way, where the ruling governments had absolutely no chance of hearing about it.

They regarded her with a mixture of respect, – for surviving and for doing her best to ensure that others didn't get caught in the machinery too often – and hatred, – because she hadn't died, and Terrell was particularly fond of her for the improvements she made to the efficiency and, indirectly, the safety of the machines. But none of them knew of her past…and she intended to keep it that way. It was because of Terrell's fondness of her that he would allow her to go out in the cantinas. He even gave her the money for it, saying that because she helped him to get it, she deserved a little every now and then, though it was given on a whim dependent on his mood.

Stalking over to her bunk on the far wall, she lay down, facing away from everyone else.

For the first time in more than three years, she allowed herself to think openly about the people she had left behind, her friends and family. A few faces rose in her mind in particular: her father, and her team.

As she thought about Daniel, Teal'c, Janet, Cassie, George…everyone, tears came unbidden and she cried silently, all the while despising herself for her weakness; she didn't cry anymore. Except when she thought of the life she had been torn from. She couldn't afford it in this harsh world.

She didn't know how long she had laid there – she must have dosed off – but all of a sudden, the lights within the small lodging blazed brightly and she heard her name – or rather her designation - called.

"164, hey 164, wake up!" She sat up and squinted into the light, her eyes just making out the figure of Terrell in the doorway. With a sigh she clambered out of the bunk and stalked over, following him out of the door. "There's a Gentleman wants to see you…privately," he said as he led her to a series of small rooms that were adjacent to the lodgings. "You better behave 'cause this one's paying big credits," he warned her as he opened the door and let her in, winking at her once before shutting the door.

Sam's heart sunk. Other women…even some of the men had been called out for 'private' meetings before but he had never called on Sam for one…until now.

When she entered the room, she was both surprised and annoyed to find Luke Skywalker standing there, calm as anything and with a slight smile on his face. A rumble behind and to her right announced the presence of Han and Chewie.

"Look, if you're into some kind of weird fetish…" She eyed them warily, annoyed at the Wookie's quiet chuckle, Han's lopsided grin, and Luke's look of suppressed amusement.

"Ah…no, it's nothing quite like that," Luke told her, indicating for Han and Chewie to shut up. "This was just the only way we could persuade Mr. Terrell to let us…well, me in here. I doubt his views of Chewie would have been quite so…accommodating."

"Look, I stand by what I said earlier: I cannot go with you."

"What about if we managed it so that we took you fairly, without any problems?"

"You mean buy me? No."

"Look lady, don't you want to get out of here?" Han asked her, pushing himself off of the wall and moving to stand by Luke.

"Sure I do. But if I go, then what about everyone else here…they don't stand a chance without me." Han snorted and Chewie growled a comment.

"What makes you so important?" he translated, and abbreviated Chewie's somewhat more polite question.

"I have the technological knowledge that makes the machines run like they do. Without it, then everything would go to hell. It would be like it was before I was selected."

"Which was?" Luke prompted curiously.

"People would survive no more than a day, two at best, and they wouldn't get the rest, food or basic needs that they should have," she told him bluntly. Luke nodded, conceding her point and stared at her in contemplation for a moment.

"Very well. Thank you," was all he said before preceding her through the doorway, a carefully blank look on his face. A stunned Chewie and Han followed, glancing at each other occasionally.

Sam sat back down on the rough bed that was in one corner of the room and waited for Terrell to return and take her back to her lodging.

She thought the matter closed, although she longed to be able to leave with them.

* * *

"Dentralla shut that sector down now!" Sam yelled as she ran towards the vibrating, steaming peace of machinery, pulling other workers out of the way as she ran. Dentralla 'urf'ed a reply and bent forwards, putting all her muscle into turning the giant mechanism that would shut off the inputs for sector 8 of what was, this week, an ore processing factory.

Sam worked frantically for over 5 hours to repair the machines and getting them working again, knowing that if she didn't, then they'd all be in for hell…particularly Dentralla and the worker that was assigned to her station.

She thought she'd finally got it working again when everything in the room suddenly shut down, giving a desperate whine of protest as it whirred to a stop.

"Sith! This can't be happening!" she cursed, giving the metal bulkhead nearest her a swift kick. Suppressing a cry of pain as her toes protested against their treatment, she turned and slumped down onto the floor, leaning against the warm bulkhead. She drew her knees up and circled her arms around them, resting her head on her arms and fervently praying that Terrell wouldn't be as hard on Dentralla and Tomas as he had been on everyone else, that he wouldn't kill them, like he had killed everyone else.

She nearly cried out again when a sharp pain tore through her body, emanating from right where her slave implant should be.

She stood swiftly, favouring her left arm as she walked towards the door. Before she reached it, however, it slid smoothly open, revealing two figures. One she immediately recognised as Luke Skywalker…the other was a fiery looking redhead.

Luke smiled at her and greeted her.

"This is Mara Jade." He introduced the red head. "A friend of mine and another Jedi."

Sam gave him a puzzled and suspicious look.

"Why are you in here…in the middle of the night?" she asked him, glancing at her wrist chrono.

"After our….discussion a few weeks ago, I contacted Mara here, and she helped me gather information to allow us to stop Terrell. By using a bit of…uh…persuasion, he gave us the codes to destroy the slave devices. The New Republic is going to return the others to their planets as best they can, and another, significantly larger task force has been sent after the slave trader that supplied Terrell." Luke explained with a grin.

"You're kidding," was all Sam could say, shortly followed by: "Why?" Luke frowned at her, not understanding. "Why did you help us?" He could sense that Sam was suspicious…she had no reason to trust anyone. To her knowledge, everyone in this galaxy was like the people of Nar Shadaa.

"The Jedi are upholders of the peace, protectors of the innocent. It's what we do." Sam finally nodded, her instincts telling her that he wasn't lying. It was all but impossible to fake that kind of innocent naivety.

"I'm going with the other workers," she told them as they headed out of the room.

"Naturally," Mara quipped, rolling her eyes. Sam was reminded forcefully of Colonel O'Neill, but she buried the feelings, pushing them away where they couldn't hurt her.

When they arrived at the small private space pad of the factory, it was to find the rest of the workers gathered at the base of a passenger shuttle, Dentralla and the other Wookies surrounding the terrified humans protectively, eyeing Han and Chewie warily.

"It's alright, Dentralla; they're here to help us." The irate Wookie roared a reply and waved at them furiously. "I know, I don't like it very much either but I think they're honest, and it's got to be better than being here." Again, Dentralla whined and gestured wildly. "They set off the self-destructs on the implants. Yes, that's what that pain was. Look, I'm coming with you and Luke Skywalker here says that they going to try to get everyone back to their home planets." Sam could see hope swell in the eyes of those gathered as they dubiously agreed to be led into the shuttle, Chewie re-assuring the Wookies, and telling them excitedly about their being able to return to Kashyyyk.

They all strapped themselves in as they prepared for take-off and the launch into hyperspace.

Sam felt a wave of excitement fly through her at the chance to fly in hyperspace once again. She wondered vaguely if it was anything like on a Goa'uld ship.

She had resigned herself to never seeing Earth, or the people that mattered to her again, but now she was faced with moving on and creating a new life for herself, without those people.


	3. Dreams

**Chapter 3 - Dreams**

The jump to hyper speed went without any problems whatsoever, which made a nice change from the usual feelings that Sam had long ago associated with it, as they were usually in some kind of dire situation whenever they were in hyperspace.

A few minutes later, they were joined by Han, Chewie, Mara, and Luke, who assured them that the ship was on autopilot. Chewie and Han headed over to talk to the other refugees.

"So where are we going?" Sam asked, wondering if it would be anything like the only two planets she had seen in this galaxy.

"Coruscant. It's like the central planet if you like, where the New Republic is based," Luke told her. Sam nodded…it made sense to have a 'capital planet', much like a Capital city.

"Do you think you'll be able to get everyone back to their own homes?" she asked, glancing back to the other passengers, who had been born on planets in this galaxy.

"It depends. If they can tell us where their planet is, then it's likely, and if they can't, then we have to rely on the information the Task Force gets out of the Slave Trader."

"What happens to those who can't find their home?" Sam asked, fearing the answer slightly.

"We find them a home…somewhere nice, where they'll fit in most and be comfortable…get them a job," he replied, watching her intently. "Some may be eligible to become Jedi," he added, giving her a pointed look.

"Me?" Sam stared at him, suddenly remembering his reason for all of this. "I don't think so," she told him, shaking her head.

"Why not? You have an unbelievable potential…" he told her earnestly, Mara rolling her eyes and muttering 'farm boy' under her breath.

"Potential to do what? I'm a scientist…an astrophysicist, and an Airforce Major…I don't do glowing swords," she told him skeptically.

"You have a potential to use the Force…to learn to be a Jedi and to help people," he told her patiently; he'd got this reaction far too many times already.

"The what?" she asked him, one eyebrow raised.

"The Force. The Force surrounds us, it binds everything together, it-"

"What Skywalker here is trying to say," Mara cut him off with a smirk, "is that the Force is this energy field that lets us manipulate things, that increase our potential. Look." Without warning, the holster at Sam's thigh – her being allowed to keep it had been a major plus point for their rescuers – moved, unclipping itself and allowing her blaster to slide out of it.

"Hey!" Sam cried as she grabbed the runaway weapon form the air. "You really did that?" she asked, only marginally disbelieving it; she'd seen telekinesis before. Mara nodded.

"And I'm not even that powerful." Luke snorted at her comment, obviously not believing it, but didn't comment.

"Okay, so say I agreed to this, what would I have to do." Sam asked, still not believing that she was capable of actually doing any of this, or that her rescuers were really that well-intentioned.

"You would come to the Academy on Yavin 4 and learn with the other students, how to control your abilities, how to build and wield a lightsaber."

"Glowing sword." Mara interjected, earning a glare from Sam, which she laughed off.

"But most importantly, you would learn about yourself," Luke finished, giving Mara a nudge to quiet her.

Sam remained quiet and Luke rose swiftly to his feet, Mara shortly behind him. He laid a hand on her arm reassuringly for a second.

"Think about it, you don't have to decide yet," he told her, mimicking her thoughts, before walking off to the synthesizer unit to prepare a meal for the people gathered.

Sam settled back against the back of the seat and rested her head against the wall, feeling the metal vibrate gently as the engines did their job. She stared at the bulkhead opposite her without really seeing it, her mind working over time, already tired from a full day's work and a frantic five hours to repair the machine needlessly.

_I could go; it's not like I have anywhere else to go._

_But I can't do any of that Jedi stuff._

She shifted her position a little to ease the dull ache in her collarbone, where the slave implant had self-destructed.

_But what if I can?_

_What if I can't…he expects me to be able to do it but…_

_What about in the alley? Something happened, something made him fly backwards into Han and Chewbacca._

_What are your other options…a 'normal' job on a 'normal' planet…there's no way you're still in the same Galaxy!_

Sam continued to reason through it for a while longer before she drifted off to sleep, exhaustion – mental and physical – taking over.

* * *

Luke stopped mid-sentence when the large female Wookie he had been talking too suddenly barked a comment and stood swiftly, moving away.

He understood the gist of what the Wookies were saying, a result of nearly 19 years of knowing Chewie, but he would often miss things, especially if they were short comments. He turned to Han, "What did she say?" he asked his brother in law.

"She just excused herself, said she'd be right back," Han told him, gesturing over to where the Wookie was now carefully removing the holster from Sam, laying it gently at her side before easing the woman down to lie on her right side, careful not to jolt the sore left arm. Luke nodded in understanding and waited patiently for the tall alien to return.

When Dentralla had seated herself back with her companions, Luke asked her about the blonde woman. The Wookie shrugged.

"She came about a standard year ago," Han translated, "part of a group of slaves Terrell had traded for. She seemed different to the rest of them, not so primitive. She learned about the technology fast and she began to suggest modifications to improve them…especially when slaves kept dying. She'd suggest a modification that improved efficiency so that Terrell would agree to it, but put it so that the way it was done would improve safety. It was like she held herself responsible for everyone. She never really spoke to anyone, only occasionally to her," Han gestured to Dentralla, "or another of the Wookies. She made a point of learning to understand them so that they could communicate in the factory but she never spoke about personal things." Han paused for a moment and then grinned.

"Looks like you've got two for that academy of yours, Kid." Luke gave him a puzzled look, but Mara was one step ahead of him.

"Looks like, uh…" Mara floundered for a moment, suddenly realising that they didn't know her name and substituted in the designation that Dentralla had been using. "…164 over there has got herself a Wookie life debt."

Luke grinned as he finally understood what they meant, but his grin faded as he glanced over to the sleeping form.

"If she does come," he said quietly before turning his attention back to the other refugees and quietly stretching out his mind, probing with the Force. He suspected that one of the human males might be Force-sensitive too.

* * *

_Jack nodded to the village leader, giving him a brief smile before turning to Sam and calling out to her._

"_Carter…the village elders have graciously granted us permission to enter the 'Sacred Land'" he gestured to where the FRED stood at the bottom of the 'gate, slap bang in the middle of the village square. "Grab what you need and catch us up," he instructed her as he headed after Daniel and Teal'c, who were ambling along the track slow enough for her to catch up easily._

"_Yes, Sir, I'll be right there!" she called back, receiving a wave of recognition form her CO._

_Resting one arm on her P90, she marched quickly over to FRED and began to off-load the few pieces of equipment she would need for the primarily archaeological mission. She stopped, her brows beetling when the 'Gate whirred into action. Reaching for her radio, she thumbed it on._

"_Colonel O'Neill, are we expecting any 'Gate travel?" she asked uncertainly._

"_No." He paused for a moment, and all she could hear was the crackle of the transmission as he made a quick decision. "We'll be right there, Carter," he finally said, just as the swash of the event horizon thrust forwards. _

_The bustling people of the market square all stopped and looked to the gate curiously. The only people to have come through in the last several decades were SG1 and they wondered who would be coming through so soon after them._

_All of a sudden a stream of beings of all kinds of different races, human and otherwise ran through, brandishing weapons._

_Sam estimated that 40 or 50 beings ran through, firing over the heads of the people from weapons that looked similar to rifles or sidearms but shot deadly-looking red energy bolts. Yelling for everyone to remain where they were, they formed a semi circle around the 'Gate with the crowd on the outside._

_She watched in fascination as two humanoids stepped to the DHD and attached a device to the side of it and then quickly dialed an eight-symbol address. _

_Sam thought she was seeing things and decided she'd miscounted the number of buttons they'd pressed_

_She stood silently, near the front of the group, waiting impatiently for the rest of her team to arrive. _

_As the wormhole reactivated, about thirty of the beings gathered started to move among the group, picking out the youngest and healthiest of the villagers. She saw one human start to walk towards her, a sneer on his badly shaven face. _

_She raised her P90, preparing to fire, but the man tensed and shook his head at her._

"_Do that and the rest of them die," he warned her in oddly accented English. "Pass it this way," he instructed her. Reluctantly, she unclipped her weapon and passed it to him. "And the Blaster." He gestured her sidearm and she handed it to him, fleetingly wondering why he'd called it a blaster._

_Silently praying for her team to arrive, she reluctantly allowed herself to be dragged to the front. _

_The man still clutched her arm as he started to lead her towards the gate, following after those who had already been sent through._

_All of a sudden, at the back of the group, where her team had disappeared only a few moments ago, the crowd started to part rapidly._

_Sam struggled against the man and the tall reptilian humanoid that roughly grabbed her other arm._

_The strangers from the 'Gate all began to run back through, grabbing the few humans that were close by and dragging them through with them._

_Some never made it as they fired back at Colonel O'Neill, Teal'c, and Daniel, who were firing their own weapons at the departing aliens._

_As she was dragged roughly up the steps, she could see Jack look up at her._

"_CARTER!"_

"_SAM!"_

"_MAJORCARTER!" came three anguished cries. She saw Jack dart forwards, firing at the enemy with a deadly accuracy. Most of the return shots went wide as the aliens tried to run backwards and shoot at the same time. _

_Sam could only watch in horror as one deadly red bolt found its mark, hitting the Colonel on the top left of his body, the force of it spinning him around and dropping him neatly onto the floor._

"COLONEL!" Sam screamed as she sat up suddenly, sweat-soaked and shaking, tear tracks marking her face.

She sobbed once, trying to slow her breathing and regain her bearings.

It was just a dream.

Except it wasn't.

It had happened over three years ago, and she had been stuck in this galaxy ever since then, first in the Glitterstim processing factory, then as a slave for Terrell.

She had tried time and again to convince herself that he might not be dead, that maybe it had only hit his arm, but she never quite managed it. She had, at that moment, been dragged through the 'Gate, and she suspected he was now dead, a charred hole burned through his heart.

It was for that, and her uncaring kidnapping and enslavement of so many people that she hated Telk, with an unbridled passion and determination that was oh so similar to Teal'c's "Jaffa Revenge Thing."

She waved the concerned Dentralla away, telling her it was just a nightmare, studiously ignoring the concerned looks of the other passengers, who she had unwittingly awoken when she screamed.

_Yeah,_ she thought miserably,_ a dream I haven't had in years…_


	4. Kashyyyk

**Chapter 4 – Kashyyyk**

Sam felt a rush of excitement and trepidation as they decanted from hyperspace, half expecting to find a Goa'uld mothership waiting but instead, she saw the verdant green and blue world of Kashyyyk.

She had only just woken after eventually falling back to sleep after her nightmare. At the time, she'd waved off Luke's concerned inquiries, still unsure as to what she was going to tell them about her past.

It had been decided that they would make the smaller jump to Kashyyyk and return the dozen or so Wookies to their home world before making the jump to the Perlemian Trade Route, and from there to Coruscant.

As they dropped through the tallest layer of trees—which were half a kilometre taller than the average—Sam was surprised and awed to see a full grown city suspended in the air. She'd known from the Wookies to expect extraordinarily large trees and knew that though the city seemed to float, it was, in fact, built on a large platform formed from the branches of the giant trees that had grown together, yet she hadn't been able to comprehend just how bit it was.

Their pilot—Sam thought that it was Han—guided them smoothly down and landed on the pad in Rwookrorro. Moments later, Chewie came barrelling out of the cockpit, shortly followed by Han, Luke, and Mara. Luke turned and led them down the ramp and into the warm air of the planet.

Sam was surprised to find that all of the humans were now looking on her as their leader and representative, even as all of the Wookies except Dentralla rushed out and noisily voiced their pleasure at being back on their own planet. Sam watched a tall, brown-furred Wookie stride energetically over to Han and Chewie, giving the former an affectionate head rub and grappling the latter in a violent-looking embrace.

"Don't you want to go with them?" she asked Dentralla, turning to the black and tan Wookie. Dentralla growled a vehement reply and Sam's eyes widened. "You owe me a life debt?" She asked incredulously and more than a little too loud. Dentralla noisily voiced another comment. "On behalf of the others?" She gestured to the rest of Terrell's Wookie task force, eyes nearly popping out of her head. "Look, you don't owe me anything!" Sam told her adamantly. "I didn't do anything!" she told the tall alien.

Dentralla growled a reply, gesturing widely. _Because I made it safer for them and I helped them survive long enough to get out?_ she repeated Dentralla's words in her head, doing a surprisingly good impression of a guppie.

"But-" she protested weakly.

"Hey, I tried that with this great lump of fur, and he hasn't left me in what…about twenty-five years," Han drawled at her with a grin, his affection for Chewie evident in his voice.

Sam had been so busy trying to comprehend what Dentralla had told her that she hadn't noticed their four rescuers and the new Wookie walk up, although she did finally manage to shut her mouth.

"I don't need anyone's help," she growled, pain obvious on her face. Luke and Mara shared a significant look but refrained from commenting.

"I'd like to introduce you to Rallracheen. He's a liaison, of sorts."

You may call me Ralrra, if you find it easier. When he spoke, Sam was surprised to find that it was much easier to understand, not the more difficult Shyrywook language that she had been expecting. Noticing the blank looks of her fellow ex-slaves, she quickly translated for them.

You are their spokesperson? Ralrra asked her.

"Uh, yeah, it looks like it," she replied awkwardly, shortly followed by an uncomfortable silence.

Do you have a name? Ralrra finally inquired.

Sam looked at him blankly…a name…nobody had used her name since she was first kidnapped. They had just called her 164 or "Oi, you!"

"Sam, Sam Carter," she finally replied, blushing slightly at the stupidity of it and pointedly ignoring the amused looks in Han and Mara's eyes, though their outward expressions were calm. Luke shot them a reproving glare, silently reminding them that it was hardly something to laugh at.

Well then, Samcarter, if you would advise them that we will be going into the city, where you will be given food and a chance to rest. Sam did as she was asked and obediently followed as they were led to dwellings where they were given a meal and directed on how to use the 'freshers to shower, much to Sam's relief. Having had to wear the same pair of dirty, sweat-stained clothes for the last couple of days had started to get annoying, to say the least.

* * *

Sam was lying on the oversized bed in the oversized building, sleeping lightly but peacefully when she suddenly awoke with a start, swiftly grabbing the blaster that lay under her pillow, turning and pointing it directly between the eyes of the person that had woken her.

She expelled her breath in relief when she recognized Mara, who was standing, hands raised in a gesture of surrender, one eyebrow raised.

"Sorry," she said quietly, running her hand through her hair, revelling in the feeling of being clean.

"Don't be," Mara told her with a shrug. "You didn't shoot me." Though she didn't say it, Sam got the feeling that Mara understood what it felt like to be that jumpy and nervous all the time. "I just came to tell you that the feast in honour of the return of the Wookies is going to be starting in a half hour. Ralrra's going to meet you all and lead you there in twenty."

"Thanks," Sam said with a smile, which Mara briefly returned before heading out to wake the others. Standing and stretching in the soft, woollen Wookie robe that was almost drowning her. She had put it on while her clothes were washed for her and, glancing at the chair by the door, she saw that they had been returned to her.

Padding over to it, she quickly dressed in the black pants and tank top, deciding to pull the blue head sheath over her head too, expecting it to get cold as night drew on, though she left the cylinder of material draped around her neck for the time being.

She glanced at her wrist chrono—she would have called it a watch years ago, but the terms of this galaxy had slipped themselves into her speech—and noted that she had slept though the night and into the evening and now felt much better for it. Frowning, she re-adjusted the positioning of the chrono so that it once again covered the dark shapes of the number 164 that had been tattooed into the inside of her wrist, unchanged by the thin white lines of scars that criss-crossed her hands and lower arms.

Slipping into the knee-high nerf hide boots, she quickly strapped on her holster, sliding the blaster into its rightful place. Grabbing her jacket as she went, she walked silently out to the hall of the dwelling and leaned against the doorjamb, gazing out on the forest as she waited for her fellow humans and Ralrra.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Turning in surprise, she saw the tall, dark-haired form of one of the newest workers. He hadn't been there more than a couple of days, but he'd been one of the most outspoken of the slaves that she'd seen.

"Yes," she replied simply, giving him a small smile.

"Sam, right?" he finally asked, as if he'd been debating with himself whether or not he dared to ask her. She nodded at him. "I'm D-"

"Derren Smithson, I know."

"How…?" he asked, eyes wide with wonder. Sam shrugged.

"I know everyone's name," she told him, grinning at his surprise. He didn't fail to notice the sad look that never left her eyes, though.

"Then why do you never use them?" he asked quietly, almost knowing the answer intuitively. Every trace of amusement vanished from her face, and she diverted her eyes back out of the forest.

"Because no one was ever going to live long enough for it to matter," she said quietly after several minutes of silence.

They remained in silence during the long minutes until the rest of their group arrived, followed shortly by Ralrra.

Everyone is present? He asked her, receiving a nod in reply from Sam, who had subconsciously checked that none of the group had been killed since she last saw them. Then let us go.

* * *

The feast was spectacular by any standards. There was little left now of the copious amounts of food that had been laid out for the family and close friends of those Wookies that had returned, including several dishes of cooked meat for the human contingent, for which they were very grateful.

"You know, it wouldn't hurt you to smile," Han said as he sauntered over to her, a glass of honey-water in each hand. "I mean, it's not everyday you get rescued," he quipped. Sam smiled at him, though that hint of sadness was still in her eyes, and reached out to take the cup he proffered.

"Thanks."

"No pro—wait, what's that?" he said, cutting himself off with a frown.

"What's what?" Luke asked as he joined the duo.

"Here." Han handed Luke his cup and snatched Sam's from her before thrusting it into the startled Jedi Master's hands. "These. I've seen scars like this before," Han told them.

"So?" Sam growled, trying to pull her hands back to herself defensively.

"You've worked in a glitterstim processing factory," he accused her, an odd look on his face.

"So? What if I have?" she replied gruffly, still on the defensive, though she didn't know what she should be defensive about.

"Han," Luke warned, sensing Sam's unease.

"Oh, it's uh, just…the only place I've ever known that to happen, they had the workers addicted to this creepy exultation thing," Han said, shifting uncomfortably.

Sam frowned, scrutinising Han closely. "You knew someone who-"

"Yeah." He cut her off brusquely. "Knew," He said with more than a tinge of sadness.

"I heard about that place," Luke said, handing the drinks back to their respective owners, "when I was looking for information on the Jedi. But the records said that it was destroyed by a rebel leader who managed to gain a lot of funding out of it." Han snorted. "Bria Tharen, that was the rebel leader." Sam could see the skin around Han's eyes tighten perceptibly, and Luke felt his pain through the Force at the mention of the name.

"Oh, it's definitely gone. Blown to hell if I remember rightly."

"You were there?" Luke asked in surprise.

"Yeah, they wouldn't have managed it without us - me and Lando and a bunch of other lowlifes."

"Then why doesn't it say anything in the-"

"Because Bria double crossed us. We were supposed to get a share in the takings, but the rebels took it and ran." Han spat bitterly. "Didn't you ever wonder why I seemed so angry at the rebellion way back when, kid?"

"Han, I'm sorry."

"Don't be…" Han's voice softened. "I'd probably be a notch in some bounty hunters belt by now if it weren't for the rebellion." Han shrugged, visibly shrugging off the veil of sadness and bitterness that had fallen on him at the mention of his first true love, the woman who had died for the rebellion. Luke nodded and turned back to Sam.

"So how long were you there then?" he asked her, curious about the woman who was so closed off about her past.

"About 3 years."

"THREE YEARS?" Han spluttered. "How'd you manage to survive that long?" Sam shrugged.

"It's a habit," she told him briefly, a flicker of amusement crossing her eyes for a moment. Luke decided to ignore the strange comment as Han headed off to see Malla and Waroo, Chewie's wife and son, Han's honour family.

"Have you thought about coming to the academy?" Luke asked as he seated himself cross-legged on the floor.

"Yes," she replied simply, though Luke could feel her underlying pain through the Force. "I'll come; although I don't think I can do all of this…Force stuff."

"You're wrong. You do it all the time without even realising it," he replied, unable to keep the grin off of his face.

"What?"

"I spoke to Mara earlier. She said that you knew she was in the room before you were properly awake. Just now, you knew what Han was feeling, and in the cantina, you knew you were being watched, and you knew you were being followed," he told her earnestly, his face alight, forcibly reminding her of Daniel when he found an interesting new site.

"That's just paranoia, body language, and experience." She waved him off, pushing all thoughts of her life on Earth away.

"Don't belittle yourself Sam; it's more than that!" he reprimanded her.

"Damn it, its not…it's what happens to you when you spend every night for a long time wondering if you'll survive the next day, if you'll be killed in your sleep because some slime-ball thought that if you weren't in the way, they could get your food, or, or take your workplace because it might be just that little bit better than theirs. Why do you think Terrell let me have a blaster? I couldn't shoot him because a dead-man switch would have killed us all. I had to be able to protect myself. He didn't want his star worker going and dieing! How else would he be able to keep his profits up?" Luke stared at her in stunned silence as she took a deep breath and reigned in her anger, feeling strangely better after her outburst.

"I'm sorry…I can't imagine…"

"No. You can't."

"But I still think you are wrong." Sam glared at him and he shrugged. "Let's try a quick exercise, just a meditation technique." Sam nodded slowly and he continued. "Close your eyes and take a deep breath.

"Concentrate on your breathing and reach out with your mind, try to feel the Force, feel the life around you."

It took a long time - time which Sam lost all track of - but with Luke's constant coaching and soothing encouragement, she finally managed it.

Her eyes snapped open and she lost the connection, but it had been there, a wonderful, uplifting feeling of life that rushed through her.

"I did it!" she breathed, a broad grin on her face.

"Do you believe me now?" Luke asked her, grinning with her.

"Maybe…a little," Sam conceded playfully, thinking that she maybe would have a place here after all. It wasn't home - wasn't Earth - but she could maybe make herself a new home.

Luke watched her as she left after bidding him goodnight, his thoughts more troubled than she knew.

He wondered if he was doing the right thing in training someone who was so closed off, so secretive, and who held so much anger within her. Something within himself told him that she wasn't the type to be calm, that she was passionate about everything, and he hoped that she could learn to control those passions, to forsake her anger.

On top of this, another worry plagued his mind…why had she found it so difficult to reach out to the Force? With a sigh he levered himself off of the floor and went in search of Mara, knowing that his friend would understand him and maybe help.


	5. Home?

**Chapter 5 – Home?**

Sam was on the edge of the balcony in the rooms she had been given in the Presidential Guest Suite on Coruscant when they had arrived over three weeks ago. In the old Imperial Palace, the rooms had traditional wooden, hinged doors, and superbly crafted wooden furniture that reminded her of a few of the more expensive hotels she'd stayed in on Earth, minus, of course, the advanced technology that she now took for granted.

Being the centre of the New Republic government, the Imperial Palace was one of the tallest buildings around and, though she wasn't anywhere near the top, she had a fairly unobstructed view of part of the city-world that was Coruscant. She took advantage of that regularly, often coming up here to meditate, and to practice connecting to the Force, as Luke had told her that it would become easier with practice.

She knew that Dentralla would be in the next room over, still insistent on carrying out the Life debt that she now owed Sam, on behalf of all of the Wookiees from Terrell's factory. When Sam had asked her why it was her who been chosen to represent them, Dentralla had replied that it was because she was the only one without a Mate and a Family on Kashyyyk.

She still hadn't told them about her planet - about Earth - but had told them with an unwavering certainty that they'd never find it, and that they would be incredulous at best, if she told them. She thought back to the conversation she'd had with Mara shortly before the fiery red-head had left to 'meet an old friend' or something.

Sam looked up to find Mara Jade standing in the doorway, the barest hint of a smile on her face.

"Let me guess, Luke sent you to find out about my planet?" Sam asked bitterly.

"Maybe. Maybe he asked, but I came because I thought you might like to talk to someone, or maybe I came because I want to say goodbye before I leave," Mara replied evenly. Sam sighed, knowing that there was no way to deter the head of the Smugglers' Alliance when she had her mind set on something.

"You want a drink?" she asked, her voice softening only slightly.

"Sure," Mara replied with a friendly smile that banished the last of Sam's annoyance. Sam paused for a moment,

"Well then, you're going to have to show me how to work this!" she said, gesturing the synth unit with a weak grin.

Five minutes later, they were seated on the rich red couch in the suite's sitting area.

"So which was it?" Sam finally asked.

"All three," Mara replied, looking the blonde soon-to-be Jedi in the eye. "But get this right: I didn't just do what Skywalker told me to do; I did it because I really do care. Jedi master or no, I don't take orders from Farmboy." Sam nodded and took a sip of her Hot Chocolate, which - much to her amusement - was considered an exotic, non-alcoholic cocktail out here.

"Why do you call him that?"

"Farmboy? Well, he grew up on Tatooine, as a moisture farmer, and when the Emperor sent- uh, when I finally saw him, all I could see was this naive innocence, and trust." Mara paused, watching Sam closely, knowing she had seen the slip she'd made. She decided that the best way to get Sam's trust was to show her trust first. "I was the Emperor's Hand, his personal, Force- sensitive assassin," Mara told her, waiting to see what her reaction would be, and when it came Mara was surprised, to say the least.

"What changed?" Sam asked, honestly curious and thinking of the strong Jaffa, who had been on her team.

"Luke told me the truth about the Emperor's death. I spent 5 years with the echoes of a vision the Emperor had sent me, showing Luke and Vader turning on him and murdering him running through my head. I wanted to kill him for stripping away my life.

"At least I thought I did, but it was the Emperor again, manipulating me even after death. I had to kill Luke's evil clone before the visions stopped, and I could finally let go."

"Wow, that's...wow!" Sam spluttered, eyes wide.

"And yet, you don't seem to have any problems with that?" Mara prompted. Sam looked back down at her mug, eyes shuttered to hide the pain that memories of her team brought.

"Yeah, well, I once knew someone who did a similar thing," was all she would say.

"Well, I've got to go see an old friend. Maybe I'll see you at the academy." Mara excused herself, but turned and spoke once more before she left through the door. "Whatever it is in your past that you're so reluctant to tell us about, it can't be worth the pain of keeping it all to yourself, especially when there were people you so obviously cared about. Those kinds of people are rare, trust me."

She'd been thinking about what Mara had said for a long time now and had finally reached a decision. Arriving at the projection chamber where she had been told they would search for the home planets of the ex-slaves, Sam saw Derren Smithson leave the room, an ecstatic grin on his face.

Derren was the other Jedi Academy candidate that Luke had found amongst the slaves and had, so far, shown a much greater aptitude for it than Sam had.

Taking a deep breath, she walked into the room to find Luke, his twin sister Leia, Han, and their three children: the 9 or 10 year old twins, Jacen and Jaina, and younger, 7 or 8 year old Anakin, the golden protocol droid C-3PO and the small astromech R2-D2.

It seemed that the often-separated family was making the most of the time together, judging by the squeals of delight coming from the kids, and the grins on the faces of the adults.

"Sam, what can we do for you?" Leia asked, seeing her enter.

"I, uh, spoke to Mara," she started, giving Luke a pointed glare. "And I was wondering if you could look for my planet."

"Sure!" Luke exclaimed, looking both surprised and delighted. He gestured for her to try the search herself first, giving her a chance to get to grips with the technology, much to her delight.

"Solar system with 9 planets, one sun." she instructed the computer, which displayed the information in holographic form by the wall nearest her. "Its on one of the spiral arms of the galaxy." Many of the images blinked out immediately. "Asteroid belt between the fourth and fifth planets out from the Sun. Fifth planet is a Gas Giant with 16 moons, seventh planet is ringed by rock and ice debris." By this time, the number of solar systems had dwindled to three, but Luke cut in and the numbers grew again.

"Include all results omitted because of incomplete data, with partial matches." He instructed, explaining that some of the scans were only partial. Sam nodded and began again with the fifteen closest that she had so far, trying to dredge up every fact she could about her home planet.

"Looking at the third planet out from the Sun. One Moon." Two blinked out. "Able to support life in most regions, barring the poles, where there are polar caps." Three more blinked out. Sam struggled against the hope that started to grow at the sight of so many possible matches. She moved onto the designations that had been given to the planets, and started to pull up holos of them. The first nine failed to match and Sam felt her trepidation grow as she pulled up the tenth. To her surprise it was a medium sized planet, about two-thirds water, with several distinct continents and two polar ice caps. She stared in wonder at the large, cloud covered blue and green orb that floated in front of her.

"Show areas populated by human life," Luke instructed, stepping in for Sam, who simply stood with her mouth open. The planet suddenly flickered with red dots, showing areas of distribution over much of the land. Without thinking about it, Sam reached out and touched an area on the globe that, though much of the land was hidden by clouds she guessed to be roughly somewhere in America.

With a rush, the globe expanded, and she found herself standing on the street of a largely metropolitan area.

The three children squealed with delight and immediately began a game of hide-and-seek, with their father running off after them.

Sam frowned.

The buildings were large, curving, natural-looking structures, and hover probes flew about above their heads, advertising things in a foreign language.

Her hopes crushed, Sam shook her head, tears threatening to fill her eyes. She spun on her heel and stalked out, marching right into the solid body of Dentralla, who growled a question at her.

"Nothing!" Sam growled, trying to push past the large tree-dweller. Even as Luke rushed out of the room after her, Dentralla grasped her by her upper arms and gently picked her up, setting her back down where she couldn't get away so easily.

"I'm sorry," Luke said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"It's not your fault," Sam said quietly, her last hopes completely vanished. She didn't need to look up to know that Leia, Han, the kids, and the droids had reappeared, but she was surprised at what Leia said next.

"Come on, let's leave Han and Luke with the Kids and go find you a dress."

"What?" Sam exclaimed, eyes wide.

"For the Dinner tonight. All the other women have one, and the men have smart suits," she told her, raising an eyebrow at Han.

"Now I know why Mara left in such a hurry," Sam groaned as she followed the petite brunette down the corridor.

* * *

"It's a wonder that your planet isn't on any of the charts then," Leia commented as Sam finished her story. The Farewell dinner had gone smoothly, and Sam had been pleased to find that she could wear a comfortable dress, with a small hold-out blaster hidden in the folds, much to Leia's amusement. She had found Leia to be a wonderful companion, successfully managing to distract her from her lost hopes of returning home.

They had not long ago re-boarded the shuttle that Han and Chewie were now flying to Derren's planet, having dropped off all of the other ex-slaves already.

In the company of only the Solo family, Luke, Derren and the two workers that had not been able to find the homes and would now have jobs at the Academy, helping out and being taught about the technology - Narintha and B'yan - Sam had finally told them a somewhat…adapted version of her story.

"So, let me get this right. You're a scientist - astrophysicist - for the Airforce of your government, which is only one of many on your planet and you were on a mission with your team - four people - in a remote area when a bunch of guys with blasters landed, took you and some others, shot your team leader, stunned you and took off, keeping you sedated until you arrived at some desolate planet where they made you process Glitterstim for three years before selling you to Terrell, along with some others, who died," Han said, just to re-iterate.

"Yes," Sam told him, determined that she shouldn't tell them about the Stargate, because even though she trusted them, she knew that any government had its corruptions, and she didn't want to risk that, even if they could find the 'gate. It was bad enough with the Goa'uld out there, never mind if the Imperials got a hold of it.

Before anyone else could comment, the ship suddenly jolted violently, and Dentralla roared in anger as she recognised the feeling of a ship being interdicted from Hyperspace. The metal of the hull squealed in protest as Han and Chewie stumbled toward the cockpit.

"So for a break from all the excitement," she heard Han mutter as Leia comforted the surprisingly calm children. They had only recently recovered from the debacle at Center-point station and had decided to take a break and have a little family holiday.

"We're doomed!" C-3PO yelled as Sam strapped herself in and asked Luke what was going on.

"We've been interdicted, pulled out of hyperspace by a gravatic anomaly." He gestured to the bulky, cumbersome ship that was outside, accompanied by a large cruiser that bristled with weapons. They felt another jolt and heard the engines protesting as Han cursed and yelled out to them.

"We've been caught in the tractor beam, looks like Pirates."

Dentralla howled at this, jumping out of her seat and running to the back to get the bowcaster that she had acquired on Kashyyyk.

"Dentralla!" Luke called out to the enraged Wookie. "Look, we can't get out of this that way; our best bet is to stay calm.

Luke and Sam coaxed the Wookie into remaining calm as they heard the dull clunk of the umbilical connecting to the shuttle's pressure hatch.

Sam's fingers were itching to reach for her gun as she heard booted feet marching into the ship. In no time at all, ten scruffy-looking pirates marched in, high powered rifles aimed at the passengers.

"A nice, big, expensive looking shuttle like this and only 9 passengers?" the leader of the group commented, leering at Sam, Narintha and Leia, apparently not recognising the new-republic leader without the senatorial robes, and more elaborate hair.

"11," Han growled from behind him, emerging from the cockpit with Chewie, both of them shaking with anger.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the notorious Han Solo, and his sidekick Chewbacca. I reckon we could get pretty price for you, there's not much else worth taking on this floating bucket."

Luke stood, from behind Dentralla, where he had been hoping to go unnoticed for as long as possible.

"You don't need to take him," he said, concentrating on the man.

"I don't need to take him," the man said after a while.

"You need to leave now."

"Come on, you lot, let's go." The large man started to turn but then stopped, and turned back to him. "Wait a minute, I know you! You're that Skywalker guy." He raised his rifle and pointed it directly at Luke. "Well you won't be able to use those Jedi mind tricks if you're dead!" The man pulled the trigger and fired, but Luke had moved into an open space and ignited his Lightsaber, deftly deflecting the bolts back at the man. Sam pulled her own blaster, along with Han and Leia. Chewie and Dentralla pulled out their bowcasters.

Firing simultaneously, they had all but one of the men down before they could return fire, but that one man managed to get his weapon out and fired blindly.

As they had been firing, they had moved to try to protect the six unarmed workers and children, but horror filled their faces and several screams were let out - both human and Wookie - as the last man fired off several shots, all of them heading towards the unarmed and unprotected group.

Seeing this, Sam reacted on instinct - or perhaps it was the Force that guided her - and she threw herself in front of Anakin, Jaina and B'yal, drawing the Force into her as much as she could.

She caught three of the shots in the chest, one in the stomach and one in the leg.

Everything seemed to slow down as she saw the final shot heading sideways, past her and she tried to draw the Force into her, connecting with it effortlessly as she reached a hand out and reached for the blast, catching it in her hand as if it were a baseball.

Feeling an unknown need to release some energy, she reached out a hand - the one that had been blasted - and sent a wave of energy at the man, faintly hearing Dentralla's enraged Wookie yell, and the sound of her bowcaster firing before time sped back up again and she gave in to the darkness, falling to the floor heavily.


	6. Interlude

**Chapter 6 – Interlude**

Kefnu - or Lottie Ray, as these primitive beings currently knew her - eyed her next host, openly displaying her interest to the pitiful man.

She knew very little about him, except that he had only recently come down to the planet, and had the means and knowledge to get back off again. The man wandered over in what he obviously thought an attractive way, and seated himself next to her.

"How 'bout I buy you a refill?" he asked, giving her a smirk.

"That wasn't exactly what I had in mind," she told him truthfully, inwardly sneering at the human's gullibility and weak mindedness. She drained the glass and stood, raising an eyebrow at the pleased looking man. "You coming?" she asked, sauntering off and heading out of the door, and into a back alley.

The man caught up with her around the next corner, catching her arm and spinning her to face him.

He smiled at her and ducked in for a kiss, pushing her against the wall.

In one swift movement, Kefnu had spun the man around and pinned him against the wall, one hand around his neck, and the other reaching for the golden hand device that was in her bag.

"That was not what I had intended either," she informed him, voice resonating and eyes flashing.

"Easy, now; you don't need to-"

"I am your God. I will do as I please."

She pulled her hand out, the ribbon device in place and activated it, putting the man into a trance-like state.

She wasted no time in killing the host and leaping into the man; gaining control just in time to see the blonde woman fall to the ground lifelessly.

His eyes flashed and he tilted one head to the side.

"Interesting," he commented as he gained access to the host's memories. Flexing his muscles and testing out his new body, he found it to be in good physical condition before he deftly pocketed his previous hosts belongings - those of any use, at least - and gathered the large, cumbersome golden ribbon device. His new knowledge prompted him to consider new things…a less obvious hand device among them.

He also now had a way of access a position of power…maybe they would not accept a God…but this Emperor was an interesting being…reminiscent slightly of Sokar.

He had not hesitated to take the opportunity when Telk had sent a force through to one of his old master Ba'al's planets, and he would not hesitate now.

Pulling out a blaster, he shot the dead woman a few times, knowing that it was not unusual for one of the mercs to turn up dead, before walking swiftly away, heading to the shuttle he knew would take him to a place of power.

* * *

Jack bolted upright, his chest heaving and a sheen of sweat glistening on his face and arms. The Air Force academy t-shirt that he wore stuck to him damply as he disentangled his legs from the bed covers and put his head in his hands, rubbing his face as if to wipe away the last trace elements of the dream.

"Dammit, it's just a dream!" he told himself angrily.

It had seemed so real, though he knew it couldn't possibly be true. Sam was gone, completely vanished from their galaxy to who knew where.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he climbed out of his bed and made his way to the shower, glancing at his watch to see that it was 5:13 am, exactly four years to the day since she had been taken.

The SGC scientists had only recently managed to decipher the technology of the device that had been used to boost the energy of the DHD, build a new one out of Earth's technology, and then work out how to fit it into the base's computers.

Stepping under the soothing hot water of the shower, Jack couldn't stop the images of his dream resurfacing.

_He landed on the other side of the 'gate in a rush, stepping out of the wormhole with practised ease. Teal'c and Daniel followed with a grace not quite managed by the newest addition to the team, who stumbled and rolled down the steps, landing at the bottom with an audible 'oof'._

_Jack rolled his eyes and jumped easily down the steps, grabbing Sorrell by the back of his tactical vest and pulling him up._

_This was only his third trip through the 'gate and he hadn't mastered the landing techniques yet._

_"O'Neill!"_

_"What?…Oh…hello!" Jack reacted instinctively, his P-90 snapping up as he spied several rows of beings, lined up across the far side of the wall. Almost all were wearing some form of military uniform and were aiming rifles at them._

_Then he saw the figure that stood, in shocked disbelief about twenty yards in front of the others, about halfway between them._

_His stomach flipped, and his heart gave a huge wrench._

_"Sam?" he heard Daniel cry in shock. The figure blinked and, in one smooth movement she had reached to the holster at her thigh and had drawn it, pointing it at them with a pained look in her eyes. He could hear the lines of the alien military tense, it was obvious that they viewed Sam as some kind of leader although she wore form-fitting black pants and a blue jacket rather than the uniform that the rest wore._

_She looked virtually the same, short hair, blue eyes, stunning figure…but she seemed older…not only in years but in knowledge too._

_All of a sudden, Jack heard movement behind him, and a figure darted out from behind the Stargate, firing across at the military force, and Jack saw a uniformed figure fall lifelessly to the floor._

_And then, all hell broke loose as the military started firing at anyone who wasn't a part of their group._

_"NO!" he heard Sam yell as she swiftly turned, standing sideways on the them, one hand out to the left and right of her, palms out as if she would stop the bullets and energy bolts with her bare hands._

Jack had woken as a hail of bullets and energy had screamed towards the calm face of the concentrating blonde.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the nightmare, he finished showering and decided to head towards the base, knowing that Daniel would be there, trying to distract himself with some translations from somewhere or other.

Half an hour later, he had dragged the man from his office, where he had once again fallen asleep at his desk, and was now making him eat something.

"O'Neill," Teal'c greeted him, placing his pile of food on the table. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your company at this hour of the morning?"

"Oh, I just y'know thought I'd come in and do so-"

"The same reason we're all here, and up at this time every year," Daniel said quietly, staring morosely at his coffee.

"Yeah."

"I see."

The three lapsed into silence, picking at their food…well, Daniel and Jack picked, Teal'c just didn't eat as eagerly as usual.

Daniel doubted that - as bad as it sounded - they wouldn't be as upset about it if Sam had been killed. They didn't know if she was suffering at the moment or if she was dead, but if they knew for sure that she was gone, then they could put her memory to rest. But as it stood, they had no idea and guilt constantly gnawed at them for leaving her behind…Jack in particular.

_If you're out there, Sam, then I'm sorry, and I love you, _the archaelogist thought, looking at the ceiling.

Though he didn't know it, Jack was thinking much the same thing as he scratched idly at the scar on his left bicep, just below his armpit.


	7. Discovery

**Chapter 7 – Discovery**

"How is she?"

"Master Skywalker," came the gravely voiced greeting, "there seems to be no physical damage. She seems to have just shut down, as if she is asleep."

"Not 'sleep," Sam croaked almost inaudibly, her eyes still closed. For a split second, she had expected Janet to reply to Luke's question, but it passed the moment she realised that she was, literally, galaxies from home. She felt a smooth, warm, and slightly clammy hand touched to her forehead, accompanied by the tentatively familiar feeling of a Force probe.

Cracking an eyelid, Sam squinted up to see the large salmon coloured head of a Mon Calamari, the bulbous eyes rolled forward to examine her patient.

"Sam, this is Cilghal, she's a Jedi Healer. How do you feel?" Luke introduced the Mon Cal quietly, intuiting that her head was pounding, feeling like she 'had a nail through her skull'.

"Like I should be dead," she grumbled at him, weakly.

"Well you were, for a while there," Luke told her, a small worried smile on his face.

"Figures," she replied bitterly, eyes drooping shut again. "What happened?" she rasped, wondering why she _wasn't_ dead, and why she wasn't at least in pain…she remembered getting hit several times.

"I was hoping you could tell me that." Sam gave a minute shake of her head, finding that she didn't have the energy to reply with words. She heard a rustle of clothes again and felt the warm, clammy hands placed on each temple before she felt herself falling into a warm, safe, Force induced darkness.

"She should come back out of the healing trance as soon as she has healed enough," Cilghal told the Jedi master, stepping back from the pale, almost grey form of Sam.

Luke nodded and asked, "Do you have any idea what caused this?" Cilghal eyed him for a moment, deep in thought before replying.

"You say that she seemed to draw in the energy from the blaster bolts before redirecting it at the pirate?"

"Yes, the bolts burned through her clothes, but left her skin unmarked, and the pirate was all but incinerated, even with Dentralla's help," Luke replied, his worry over her actions showing on his face.

"If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that she has a similar gift to Corran Horn, but when she tried to release the energy that she had absorbed, she overdid it, sending back too much energy," Cilghal rasped.

"An instinctive reaction," Luke added, his frown deepening for a moment before he banished it from his face.

"Thank you Cilghal." He rested a hand on her shoulder for a moment, giving her a tight smile. "Let me know when she wakes?"

"Of course Master Skywalker."

* * *

Sam awoke slowly, drifting back into consciousness in a much more peaceful way, without the pain that usually accompanied it. Taking a depth breath and opening her eyes slowly, squinting against the comparative brightness, she flexed a few muscles and moved a little, experimentally. Finding no apparent problems, she sat up, levering herself with one elbow, and looked around the medical bay she was in. Her eyes settling on the form of Dentralla, who blinked and leapt from her chair, and rushing out of the room, pausing only to give Sam an affectionate Wookie head-rub and messing her hair up.

"Gee, thanks," she muttered under her breath, running her hand through her hair to settle the messed locks. Moments later Dentralla re-appeared with a diminutive, furry alien with large, radar-like ears.

"It is good to see you are awake. I am Tekli; Master Cilghal is resting at the moment," the alien Sam vaguely recognised as a Chadra-fan introduced herself.

"Sam Carter," she replied, knowing that Tekli would most likely know that already, though.

"How do you feel?" she inquired softly.

"Good, actually, which is unusual," Sam replied, smiling. "Hungry though."

"I am not surprised; it has been nearly a standard week since you last ate."

"A WEEK?" Sam spluttered, eyes widening in disbelief. Dentralla barked a comment, once more ruffling Sam's hair. "Hey! If you hadn't CHOSEN to be here, then it wouldn't be a problem!" Sam replied in mock indignance, secretly touched that the giant biped cared enough to hover like a mother hen.

Tekli's quiet laughter was added to the comment as she replied, "I must say it is quite a feat to snore whilst in a Jedi healing trance." Sam glared at the small healer.

"So what actually happened to me?"

"You do not know? Then I think that is an explanation best left to Master Skywalker," Tekli replied, carrying out a quick check with the Force.

"Great," Sam replied, her voice thick with sarcasm. "Can I go yet?"

"The company's that bad?" remarked a short-ish man with brown hair and a goatee as he walked in with Luke.

"No. I just really have to pee," she retorted easily. Luke smiled.

"Sam, this is Corran Horn, one of the other Jedi," Luke introduced him.

"Nice to meet you, but I wasn't kidding; I really don't want to be in here." Corran raised an eyebrow and she added, "Its nothing personal, I just really don't like infirmaries."

With an affirmative from Tekli, Sam was allowed to get up, dress and shower, and they headed to what had been the Mess Hall when the old temples had been in use by the rebel alliance, all those years ago.

Sitting at one of the tables, dressed once again in a spare set of clothes similar to the ones she had worn before – they had been damaged beyond repair when Sam had intercepted the blaster bolts - Sam began to pile ravenously into the simple stew, gulping down mouthfuls of hot caf to wash it down.

Corran and Luke watched her in bemusement as she tried to eat and take in the stonework of the room at the same time.

"You know, if you slow down you might actually taste it," Corran commented, receiving a half-hearted glare from Sam, who didn't pause her eating. Smiling at them, Luke took a sip of his hot chocolate before speaking.

"We think we know what may have happened." Sam didn't need to ask to know that he was referring to the pirate attack.

"So why aren't I full of blaster holes, then?" Sam asked, swallowing her mouthful.

"We think that you share a rare ability with Corran here, which allows you to absorb energy from outside sources."

"Like Blaster bolts." Sam nodded; speaking around a mouthful of the stewed gornt she was all-but-inhaling.

"You reacted on instinct, perhaps even guided by the Force." Corran continued. "The thing is, though, that when you absorbed the energy, you needed to get rid of the extra, or you most probably would have exploded through overloading your cells. When you did this, again reacting on instinct and directing the energy back at the pirate, you drained _all _of the energy in your cells, effectively sending yourself into a kind of coma." Sam stopped chewing and swallowed thickly, a horrified look on her face.

"So if the energy wasn't in me, and I sent it back at the pirate…" she trailed off, her face ashen.

"Because of the way that it was redirected, he got slightly...crispy," Corran replied wryly. Sam blanched, pushing her plate away disgustedly, her hands shaking minutely.

Luke and Corran shared a look that Sam, staring at the plate in front of her didn't notice.

"Because of this...ability that you share with Corran, we've decided that it would be best if you were his apprentice."

"His what?" Sam asked, slightly dazed, looking up at them in wide-eyed surprise.

"His apprentice."

"Oh." Sam blinked, realising that she was staring at him with a vacant, uncomprehending look.

"Nice to see you're so excited," Corran commented, rolling his eyes.

"Sorry," she mumbled sheepishly before snapping her head up to look at Luke. "Everyone is okay, aren't they?" she suddenly asked, realising that she hadn't seen anyone off of the ship, other than Dentralla.

"Yes. Leia, Han and the kids took off with Derren, having another go at getting him home after we came straight here with you." Sam sighed in relief.

"Thank God!" she exclaimed, receiving a surprised look form Luke and Corran.

"You're religious?"

"What? Oh, no, it's just an expression from my Ho-Planet." Neither Jedi missed her pain. Though she hid it well in her expression they could feel it resounding through the Force. She had explained what she did, in brief and Luke had related it to Corran, but she had been very impersonal, not wanting to delve too deeply into the pain that was associated with home.

"Luke says you used to fly atmospheric planes. Ever thought about flying an X-wing?" Corran suddenly asked, successfully distracting her from her brooding. Sam's eyes lit up and Luke didn't try to hide the smile that spread across her face at the mention of the fighters.

"Corran used to fly in Rogue squadron; he's one of the best pilots around." Corran snorted.

"This coming from the original Rogue Leader." Sam just stared at them, gaping for a moment.

"I can really fly an X-wing?" she finally asked, breaking into a grin at the affirming nod.

* * *

Much to her chagrin, Sam had found that she would have to wait a week, getting lots of rest before her training would start in earnest, Doctors – or rather Jedi Healer's – orders. But now, a week later, she was finally allowed to do more than sit and practice feeling things through the Force.

Slipping into soft Nerf-hide boots, pants, and a tank top, she attached her holster onto her waist, retrieving her blaster from under her pillow and sliding it into place.

Quietly slipping past the door of her obstinate Wookie guardian, who she had needed to convince that she would be fine going for a run with Corran, she quickly made her way out of the giant temple that now housed the Jedi Academy, but had once been part of a series of temple set up at the instruction of a powerful Sith lord by a since extinct race.

Crossing her arms to ward off the chilly morning air, she jumped up and down a little on the spot and waited for her Master to arrive.

Looking up at the monstrous ziggurat, she remembered coming outside for the first time and getting a look at the impressive pyramid-shaped stone temple jutting up from the verdant forest floor of Yavin 4. Redirecting her eyes to look at the lightening landscape at the horizon, she couldn't help but be awed by the effect that the light from the gas giant Yavin created as it refracted from the particles of moisture in the air, creating a dazzling rainbow of colours just visible high in the atmosphere.

"Ready?" She turned at the sound of Corran's voice, smiling her assent and following him as he started off into the forest.

She had lost her pale, slightly malnourished look and had replenished her reserves of energy. But it had been a long time since she had worried about keeping in shape and her fitness and stamina were nowhere near on par with her former state of fitness, let alone Corran's Force enhanced status, and she started to feel it after about 10 minutes.

She was breathing heavily and her muscles screamed in protest as she pounded along after Corran, yet still not willing to give in until she reached the end – it was the only way she was going to get back up to scratch – and she knew she would feel better for it. Corran sensed this and deliberately took a very short course, jogging slower than he would have normally, impressed at her resolve.

When they arrived back at the temple, Sam was breathing heavily and covered in a sheen of sweat, her hand clamped over the stitch in her side. She immediately carried out a few callisthenics to warm down and stretched out her muscles.

"Out of practice?" Corran asked her as he warmed himself down and stretched.

"Don't need…to keep in…shape…when you're…a slave," she panted.

"I guess not. Go get showered, I'll meet you in the mess," he told her, slapping a hand on her clammy shoulder.

A half hour later, clean and refreshed, she slid onto a bench at the table with a cup of Caf and a bowl of a fruity oatmeal-like substance, Dentralla following shortly behind her with a raw-meat and fruit breakfast.

Corran sat down opposite her five minutes later, turning his nose up at the Wookie's choice of food and sipping at his stim tea.

"Doesn't that bother you?" he asked Sam, who was quite happily tucking into her own food.

"What?" she asked, looking up at him.

"The raw meat."

"Oh, no, I guess you get used to it, she answered with a shrug, scraping out her bowl. Corran shook his head at her in bemusement, ignoring Dentralla's indignant – and heart felt – reply, making a mental note not to let his kids learn that particular expletive.

"I want you to reach out with the Force, try and feel the life around you." Sam started to close her eyes, but Corran interrupted her. "Hey, we know you can do it with your eyes shut, but you need to be able to do it with your eyes open; it's no good if you're in a hostile situation to have half your senses closed off."

"Yes Sir," Sam replied unconsciously, not realising that she had. Corran laughed.

"You don't have to call me Sir; you don't even have to call me Master, just plain old Corran."

"Uh sorry, you just kinda remind me of half of my CO's," she explained. Corran shrugged.

"I was part of the Correllian Security Force before I joined Rogue squadron or became a Jedi. That's why I go on the runs in the morning; it's a throwback to the CorSec Academy." Sam nodded in understanding before she returned her concentration to connecting with the Force.

_Score two for Master Skywalker,_ Corran thought, realising that their respective military backgrounds gave them a similar mindset. That could prove useful in their training, not least because it gave him an idea of how to approach it.

Concentrating on Corran's face, Sam touched the Force, sensing the familiar feeling of the life around her, the different impressions that each person in the room left on her senses.

Dentralla was a blazing point of energy and feelings, while Corran flared brighter but calmer, due to his connection to the Force. She could sense the familiar, and yet, distinctly alien presences of Cilghal and Tekli and the powerful presences of Luke and Kyp Durron, the man who had come to the academy as a young boy and had been corrupted by the ancient Sith mind of Exar Kun, tricked into succumbing to his rage and destroying an entire star system, including the Imperial training world of Carida and his long-lost brother.

"Now, I want you to try to focus in on the mug in front of you. Now, use the Force to make it float off of the table." After several attempts, Sam still could not do it and was getting frustrated.

"This isn't working!" she exclaimed in frustration.

"Hey, you just have to persevere," said Corran, "and, more importantly don't get angry. Anger-"

"Is of the dark side," Sam finished for him, taking a deep breath and letting go of her annoyance and focusing in on the mug again, interrupting Corran once more. "All of this from the man who can't float a feather." She grinned wickedly at him, teasing him about his lack of ability when it came to telekinesis. Corran simply laughed at her, knowing she was only joking and trying to instruct her again. When it still didn't work, he questioned her as to why she felt she couldn't do it.

"Corran, I'm a scientist," she replied. "My beliefs are based around facts, actions, things that can be explained, or measured, or _something._ It just feels like I'm not _doing_ anything." Corran nodded thoughtfully for a moment, contemplating what she had said before he grinned.

"So use an action, a gesture, see if that helps," he suggested. Sam raised an eyebrow at him and shrugged.

"Nothing else is working," she said, focusing in on the now cold half-mug of Caf. Once she was happy with her access to the Force, she raised her hand and made an 'up' gesture. Her eyes widened when the mug jumped several inches in the air before falling back to the table with a dull 'Thunk'.

Dentralla gave an excited growl as Sam broke into a grin.

"Now try and make it smoother, and hold it up for a few moments," Corran instructed her.

Buoyed by the realisation that she could do it, Sam tried again, this time making a slower gesture, her palm facing upwards as she used it to focus her intent, making the mug rise steadily and smoothly until it was about a foot off of the table.

Again Dentralla growled excitedly, banging the table for emphasis and Sam's grin widened.

"Not bad, for 'a man who couldn't float a feather'," Corran commented, smirking at her. All of a sudden, the mug fell onto its side, still floating but pouring its contents onto Corran's head. Now it was Sam's turn to smirk.

"Teach you to take the credit for my work," she retorted to the dripping man, backed by raucous laughter from Dentralla. Sam set the mug back down on the table without the finesse she had shown when picking it up, her control of the Force was still shaky, to say the least. Corran scowled at her, trying to ignore the liquid trickling through his beard. Deciding he would get her back another time, Corran began the training that would last not just the year or three that she would be his apprentice, but would continue throughout her life as she learned more about the Force and mastered her control over it.


	8. Darkside?

**Chapter 8 – Darkside?**

Sam ducked the Lightsaber blow that would have bisected her head, pivoting on her right foot to bring her left around in a roundhouse kick that connected solidly with the chest of the man she was duelling with. She heard him expel his breath in a soft woomph as he used the momentum of it to flip backwards, disengaging his silver blade so that he could plant his hands on the floor.

Straightening from her kick, Sam went on the offensive, thrusting high left, low right, sweeping the blade around in an arc from the right to the left. But her opponent deflected her pale violet blade each time, though the sweat that trickled down his face and soaked his shirt showed how hard he was working to defend himself.

She let him catch her next blow on his blade, suddenly using the Force to push his blade away from them as she slipped inside his guard, placing one leg behind his and elbowing him in the face. His surprise and defensive reactions made him take a step backwards and he almost fell over her leg, instead reaching out and grabbing her arm, using the gravity that pulled him to the floor to roll as he planted his feet in her stomach and pushed her away, sending her flying across the room.

She spun the air, pivoting on one hand and landing on her feet, agile and with a cat-like grace, Lightsaber whirling once again as she bounced forward, aiming to stab directly through his heart. He saw the move easily and stepped to the side, turning his torso away from the shining violet blade, his right arm furthest away from her, pushing her blade away from him with his own.

What she did next, however, surprised him. Lightening quick she disengaged her blade and pirouetted towards him, stopping with a second violet blade in her left hand, hovering unwaveringly at the back of his neck.

He stood there a moment, chest heaving, beads of sweat glistening on his forehead, looking directly into her piercing blue eyes before grinning and relaxing.

"Well I'll be a son of a Sith! You actually beat me." Sam disengaged her second blade, a grin spreading across her own sweat-streaked face.

"Well there's a first time for everything," she commented dryly. "And you don't have to sound so surprised."

A year and a half since she had first come to the Academy on Yavin, after training hard everyday of that, whether it be under Corran's tutelage or that of one of the other Jedi masters if Corran had been away, or with his Wife Mirax and his son Valin, Sam had gained a fair mastery of the Force. But Luke maintained that it wasn't her full potential, no matter how hard she trained and practiced.

Corran raised an eyebrow at her.

"Why shouldn't I be? We both know you have the potential to do much better," he told her sternly.

Sam was suddenly surprised to find herself on her back on the floor, looking up at Corran. "And you know you should be aware of what the Force is telling you all the time," he berated her on one of her main down fallings. He reached down and grasped her by the wrist to help her up.

Sam grasped his wrist in return, but instead of letting him help her up she pulled him down, augmenting the move with the Force, fuelled by her irritation and copied his earlier move, trying to throw him over her head. He had been expecting it, sensing it through the Force and instead, used her own trick against her, bouncing back forwards, igniting his lightsaber and charging at her.

Instead of doing what he expected - which was defending herself with her own blade - she drew on the Force, slowing the movement of the blade enough to reach out and grab hold of it.

Drawing the energy out of it, she watched it flicker, and then die even as she used the extra energy to take Corran in a Force grip, suspending him in the air, his arms pinned to his side.

"I hope you're not damaging my husband," came a voice from the doorway. Sam turned, gently putting Corran back down, and letting the extra energy bleed away into the environment.

"Mirax." Corran's shocked look was quickly replaced with one of joy as he greeting his wife passionately, making Sam blush and avert her eyes.

"Its good to see you again, Sam," Mirax finally greeted her, her arm firmly clasped in her husbands as they started to make their way out of the training room.

"You too, how's Valin?"

"He's well, thank you, showing some very definite signs of taking after his father, though."

"Oh, you poor thing," Sam commented with a smile. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to have a shower, but I'm sure I'll see you again before you leave?"

"Yes, we leave tomorrow morning, along with Kam and Tionne. The others will be going later." Sam nodded and smiled as she boarded the turbolift that would take her to the level where her quarters were.

As the doors closed, she vaguely heard Mirax suggest to Corran that he didn't smell all that great either.

* * *

"So how's she doing?" Mirax asked, keeping her hand firmly clasped in Corrans.

"Sam? She's doing really well, apart from only connecting or listening to the Force when she concentrates on it."

"And?" Mirax prompted, recognising the worried frown that played between his brows.

"When you came in just now – that was the first time she'd done anything like that – she had used her annoyance to fuel herself, and she still refuses to abandon her anger, her pain…the emotions of the Dark side."

"Ah, and you're worried that she's going to fall to the Dark side."

"Mirax, the power she holds rivals even that of Luke and Kyp, and if she were to fall…"

"Have a little faith, Corran, she's a good person and I don't think that will happen too soon."

"So was Anakin Skywalker, Senior," Corran muttered under his breath as they continued on to his quarters.

* * *

Along with several other Jedi at the temple, Corran was going to travel to Coruscant to attend the wedding of the era. Having been the last people to realise that they loved each other while on a mission to investigate and destroy the Hand of Thrawn – well, it had been Mara's mission, but Luke had gone in to rescue her – the last of the Old Jedi and the ex Emperor's Hand were getting married in a week or two's time.

The news of the wedding between people from both sides of the war with the Empire had surprised most of the Galaxy, and had become a symbol of unity with the Imperial Remnant, to be holocast to most of the Galaxy.

Sam had been one of those that had opted to stay behind at the Academy to allow Kam and Tionne Solusar, among others to attend.

After showering Sam decided to take the X-wing that she had been fixing up in her spare time – of which there was little – out to test the new port repulsor that she had just installed. After Corran had taught her to fly, using the simulator to start and then, taking her up into orbit until she had honed her flying abilities, she had set about on the pet project of retro-engineering the dilapidated fighter that had been left after the evacuation of Yavin in the face of the looming Death Star and rebuilding it into a working fighter.

Blaster and twin lightsabers in place, she climbed into the cockpit, leaving a message for anyone who inquired after her, and brought the repulsors online, steadily lifting the craft into the air and gliding smoothly out of the hangar.

Doing as Corran had been trying to get her to do constantly, she kept a slight connection to the Force so that, at the back of her mind, she was constantly aware of what it was telling her. Corran had found it unusual that she did not do this automatically, but had put it down to a psychological block, which was the same reason he had given for her need to make gestures – which she still had to do for the greatest affect – to manipulate the Force.

Letting the Force guide her, she flew the ship out over the forest, keeping one eye on the diagnostics for the efficiency of the new part at all times.

Sensing some unknown prompting, she set the ship down on the top of one of the many temples that scattered the moon.

Yavin was just beginning to dip behind the horizon, and she sat for a moment, watching it.

Depositing her jacket in the X-wing, she decided to go for a quick run, quickly leaping down the stepped side of the ziggurat, using the Force to control her jumps before setting off at a fast jog.

Running through the forest, she could feel the life of the place, as Stintarils and Piranha beetles flocked around the trees. Birds of one nature or another would take flight occasionally, but it was only when she heard an entire flock of birds take flight that she looked up. Sure enough, a dark cloud suddenly flew away, as if scared off, and she changed her heading that way, frowning at the sense of darkness that she could feel close by.

Her heart leapt into her throat as she heard an all-too-familiar sound reverberate through the trees.

Clunk, rumble-whirr, Clunk, rumble-whirr. When she heard a familiar Kawoosh, she had her suspicions confirmed and was filled with both fear and hope.

Breaking through a last line of bushes, she saw the large, circular device, filled with what seemed to be a puddle of water. It was on a raised platform, with steps leading down and a mushroom-shaped DHD only a short way off.

At the base of the steps, a MALP sat silently. Seeing this she felt her pulse start to race and hope swelled within her; it wasn't the Goa'uld! She slowed as she neared the 'Gate, using a Jedi Calming technique to quieten her fluttering heart.

She gazed, wide eyed at the event horizon of the wormhole, an uncertain grin spreading across her face as she saw the familiar forms of Jack, Daniel and Teal'c come through.

Stopping, she watched in apprehension as they walked unemotionally towards her, their faces blank.

"Hello Sam," Jack said, his voice a monotonous drone. Sam couldn't speak as her senses, through the Force told her that they were all but dead emotionally. Where she should have been able to feel their emotions through the Force, there was nothing, despite the fact that she could feel them to the extent that she knew they were alive.

"Jack? Daniel? Teal'c?" she asked fearfully.

"Yes," replied Jack, without any of his usual, inappropriately timed quips. "We are going to take you home Sam," he said. Sam made to protest but found herself looking down the barrels of three P90's.

She looked back up in time to see three pairs of eyes flash.

"You WILL come with us, Sam," came the inhuman voice of Daniel, without any of the inflections, or emotions that made him the person that he was.

Sam shook her head, backing away from her old team-mates.

"No!" she muttered, still walking away, her hands raised in defence and tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

"No!" she repeated more forcefully, her anger and pain getting the better of her.

"NO!" she screamed one more time, her face scrunching up as she gave in to her anger at the Goa'uld and the pain of losing her friends. She knew that they were about to fire on her and raised both arms, stretching her hands and fingers out straight at them as if grasping for them.

She felt raging power coarse through her as she gave into the darkness that was calling for her and she willingly – even gladly – used the Force to suck their life energy out of them. She watched in an almost indifferent way as their skin began to decompose, all of the energy sucked out of it where it was.

After a few seconds, rotted flesh burst forwards out of them, and the putrid liquids of their dead organs spilled onto the floor before the skin itself peeled off, leaving only bones that crumpled to the floor with a muted, almost melodious sound reminiscent of a xylophone being struck.

Releasing the energy that she had gained in a primal, howling wind that tore up trees and sent animals fleeing, she was suddenly hit by the reality of what had happened, seeing as if for the first time the destruction she had wrought on the harmless plant life.

Shaking uncontrollably, she fell to her knees and slumped to the floor, squeezing her eyes shut and curling into the foetal position.

_It is our emotions that set us apart from the Goa'uld, it is our feelings of love for one another, of anger at the injustices that makes us people, that makes us Tok'ra, different to the Goa'uld, who only feel love for power, anger at those who defy them. It is just that we do not let these emotions control us._

She remembered the words that a Tok'ra had once said to her and felt a sense of betrayal to herself, and those who trusted her for not controlling her emotions. She had not lain there long, knowing that she was leaving herself vulnerable to the night-time predators that would not hesitate to make easy prey of her, when she heard a quiet thump, thump, thump of someone running through the forest.

Dentralla.

She sensed it through the Force without trying and heard the worried call of the Wookie as she pushed through the underbrush and bounded into the clearing, shortly followed by Derren, who had been hiding himself within the Force, not wanting to alert whatever assailant it was that was after Sam to know he was there.

Rushing up to Sam, Dentralla skidded to a halt and bent down onto her knees, gently brushing the hair out of Sam's face and rolling her over to see what injuries she had.

"This place is filled with the Dark Side," Derren said, stopping by them and looking around, though it was not his eyes that saw anything. "No, it's not from Sam, this is a shadow of the past, an echo of the Sith that once inhabited this planet," He said, in answer to Dentralla's frantic question.

At Dentralla's persistent coaxing, Sam finally opened her eyes, which had been scrunched tightly shut before, closed against whatever had caused the look of pain on her mud and tear streaked face.

Expecting to find a wrecked site, with the naked bones of her three team-mates and the Stargate looming close by, she was surprised to see only a few small bushes had been uprooted.

Dragging her eyes away from the spot where her team-mates had been, she slowly turned to face the frightened eyes of the Wookie who had crouched down beside her.

Dentralla growled insistently at her, trying to find out if she was okay. Sam nodded mutely in reply, staring wide-eyed and with a dumbstruck expression on her face.

"She's withdrawn into herself, completely cut herself off from the Force," Derren told Dentralla. Though having only a small amount of power within the Force, Derren had an aptitude for the empathic side of the Force, often managing to calm situations and appease people with an uncanny skill. "Whatever happened here, it has something to do with the Dark-side presence I can feel here."

Dentralla growled a reply, telling him to take the X-wing that Sam had flown out here back to the Temple, and to warn Corran and Cilghal that they would soon have company.

With a curt nod, he jogged off in the direction of the X-wing, disappearing into the forest silently.

Sweeping Sam into her long, muscular arms, realising that the woman was shaking like a leaf, Dentralla set off at a much slower pace towards the speeder that she and Derren had come after Sam in when Derren had felt Sam's need through the Force. Placing her gently into the speeder, Dentralla clambered into the driver's seat and took off for the Temple. Though she had not realised it at the time, Sam had been in the forest for over an hour, the nocturnal predators sensing that it was not a good idea for them to go near her.

When she arrived with her charge, she was met by the Mon Cal healer and the Jedi Master, with Mirax hovering nearby, tousled and sleepy.

"She is in shock," Clighal informed them after a brief on-the-spot examination. "Get her to the Med Bay. Do you have any idea what caused this?" Dentralla growled in the negative, angry at herself for letting Sam into danger on her own, almost failing in her life-debt.

"Where we found her, it was tainted with the Dark side," Derren supplied for them. "That's all I can tell you."

"The Dark Side?" Corran queried, a ponderous frown creasing his face. He turned to Mirax, mouth open, but she cut him off before he could speak.

"I'm staying with you; she's my friend too," she said with a raised eyebrow.

"I sometimes wonder that you're not Force sensitive yourself, and just hiding it from us," Corran replied, slipping his arm around her waist as they headed off towards the Med Bay after Cilghal, Dentralla, and Derren.

"No, I've just known you far too long," Mirax replied with a smirk, squeezing his waist in return.

By the time they had reached the Med Bay, Cilghal had calmed Sam, using the Force to soothe her so that she was no longer shaking and yet she was sitting, catatonic on the bed, arms clutched around her knees, staring blankly ahead of her.

"What's the verdict?" Corran asked softly once Cilghal had stepped back.

"She has withdrawn into the Force, not actively using it, but not cut off from it either." Her gravely voice rang out in the silent room. "If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that whatever happened to her during her encounter with the Dark side, it has caused her to withdraw to get a perspective on the matter. But it is an educated guess, nothing more."

Corran nodded and moved to stand beside the bed, next to Sam. Reaching out with the Force, he called softly to her, using the Force to augment it and penetrate her fogged mind.

"Sam!" he called again, a little more forcefully, though still to no avail. Sighing, he decided to take another tact and reached out with the Force, entering her mind in a way that he wouldn't have dared to, given other, more normal circumstances.

Entering her mind he navigated through the chaos that was her thoughts, concentrating all the time on her startling blue eyes. All of a sudden, after an indeterminate length of time, he felt something, a sensitive nub of emotions and, almost instantaneously, he felt the recoil through the Force and spoke the words that came to him, along with the brief image of a grey-haired man in some kind of uniform.

"Snap out of it, Major," he commanded, his tone full of authority, tainted with an odd accent.

"Yes Sir!" The blue eyes that he had been staring into suddenly widened in shock, and he felt himself being thrown out of her mind as the omnipresent barriers that she held up against her innermost mind were slammed into place. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, her anger almost palpable. "You have no right to do that!" she yelled at him. Corran could only blink in surprise before she leapt off of the bed and stormed out, pushing past them all with a growled "Leave me alone," Dentralla following in her footsteps.

"What did you do?" Mirax asked him in surprise.

"Nothing…I just…" He trailed off, but Cilghal finished for him.

"He entered her mind to bring her back from the dark place where she was."

"You…entered her mind…I sometimes wonder how you managed to survive as long as you have," Mirax told him, shaking her head and frowning.

"What did I do?"

"What did you…you really don't know, do you! Sam is obviously a very private person – she's told us more or less nothing about her past, her family and friends – how do you think she is going to feel when you delve into her mind like that, without her permission."

"Oh."

"Yes Oh."

"What did you do to get her to respond?" Cilghal asked him after a moment's silence.

"I don't know, the Force told me what to do, and I got the image of a grey haired man in military fatigues."

"You said something, you told her 'Snap out of it, Major,'" Mirax supplied for him.

"Probably her commanding officer, in her 'Air Force'," Corran deduced from what little Sam had told him.

"I suggest you go and grovel," Mirax instructed him. "I'll see you in your quarters. Remember, we leave early tomorrow morning." Corran nodded and gave her a quick peck on the lips, waving goodbye to Cilghal as he left.

* * *

Sam was furious, and she took it out on the soft hand-to-hand combat droid that was circling, waiting for her to make the next move. In the opposite corner, the wrecked remains of the saber-droid lay in a sorry looking heap, sparking occasionally, the melted remains of wiring and casing fused together where Sam's two lightsabers had struck it.

She was angry at Corran, for using his ability to affect the minds of people to plant the image of Colonel O'Neill in her mind, to make her think that he was there. She had seen him, stood there as sure as anything, staring into her eyes and ordering her to 'snap out of it'.

She blocked the punch that the droid threw at her, elbowing it in the face, where an angry red mark appeared, showing the damage she had done.

She circled again, blocking with her left and dealing an undercut punch to the soft, flesh-like armour of the droid. A dark Red-Black shape appeared, showing that the force of the punch would have bruised a few vital organs.

The deceptively supple protective gloves that she wore protected her against damaging her own knuckles as she danced deftly around the room, fighting the droid with deceptive ease. After twenty minutes the droid was a mass of angry red, orange and black, the colours denoting the severity of the blows she had dealt it.

She kicked it firmly in the chest, the force of the move sending it flying backwards into the wall, right beside a sheepish looking Corran.

"Stop," Sam commanded the droid, which did as it was programmed, halting where it was and standing listlessly. Grabbing her jacket, Sam didn't look at Corran, moving instead to march past him and out of the doorway, but he blocked her.

"Sam, I'm sorry-" he began as Sam, still not looking at him, turned and stalked back into the room.

"Oh, well that's all fine then," she snarled sarcastically.

"Sam, anger is of the-"

"I don't give a damn if anger is the Dim, Lit-with-a-few-Candles-and-a-Roaring-Fire Side. You had no right to do that, to invade my mind and use my personal feelings like that."

"Sam, I'm sorry, I didn't know that I was doing that; I was just trying to get you to come around. You were catatonic and we were worried." Corran had moved around to stand behind her as she had been resolutely facing away from him. She whirled to face him and he saw the pain in her eyes, the betrayal and the fear.

"That was no reason to do what you did. That is all I have left of those people, of my friends and family, and you had to go and, and…steal that from me.."

"I know. And I'm sorry." Corran spoke softly, meeting her eyes slightly fearfully.

"I know," Sam replied equally softly, seeing the honesty and sincerity in his eyes. "But that doesn't make everything alright. Not by a long shot." Corran nodded, opened his mouth to remind her that she had to control her emotions, and that holding a grudge wouldn't help that but decided – wisely – that it perhaps was not the best idea.

He considered, for a moment, staying behind to support her, and help her work through whatever it was that had happened in the forest, but something told him not to. Whether it was the Force, or his own sense of survival he wasn't sure, but he knew that his place was at Luke and Mara's wedding, not here.

Sam bid him a curt and quiet goodbye before leaving him, her emotions raw and still roiling under the surface, but controlled and kept in check as she headed for her quarters, and her 'fresher for a shower.


	9. Touched

**Chapter 9 – Touched**

Sam's eyes snapped open, and she found herself looking directly at the lanky form of Dentralla. Having jolted awake suddenly, as she always did when someone entered her room; she was momentarily surprised to notice that it was without the usual panic and paranoia that she usually felt. Her surprise turned to understanding when she realised that she was already in contact with the Force, that she had been even while she was asleep, which told her that it was Dentralla and not a stranger that had come into the room.

"What is it?" she asked, fully awake and ready. She'd been having strange dreams the last couple of nights, of something she recognised but couldn't place. But now she knew what…she'd been plagued by images of the 'Gate activating, of going through the 'Gate and of the Chevrons encoding and locking. She nodded at Dentralla's gruff explanation that they had received a message calling for help from a distant planet, and they were about to have a meeting about it.

"Right. I'll be there in a few minutes." She told Dentralla, swinging her legs over the side of the bunk and stretching luxuriously. "Trust Luke to choose this week to get married." She grumbled as she dressed. Glancing at her chrono, she realised that it was midday local time. _Must've been more tired than I realised,_ she thought, reflecting briefly on her argument with Corran and her experience in the forest.

Realising Corran and Mirax would have left already, she dressed swiftly and made her way to the Grand Audience Chamber, where the celebrations at the end of the battle of Yavin when the first Death Star had been destroyed, had taken place.

As she arrived, she pushed all thoughts of what had happened out of her mind and reigned in her still raw and roiling emotions. She would deal with it, but now was not the time.

Kam Solusar stood up on the raised dais at the end of the chamber with the few Jedi who would be remaining arrayed opposite him, looking up at him with respect. Kam and Tionne would be the last to leave the Academy later that day, leaving it in the capable hands of some of the older, more responsible recruits, though many would be attending the Jedi portion of the ceremony, if not the entire thing.

Nodding her apologies for her tardiness, Sam received a quick nod from Kam, and she stood towards the back of the group and listened to what Kam was telling them.

"A short while ago we – or more accurately the New Republic – received a distress call from a planet on the edges of known space. Now, the message was garbled, but we were able to determine a few things. Where it was, but more importantly that it seems to be some kind of virus that they could not stop as it rapidly took many of the inhabitants. The planet is known to its natives as Brocacnor and it is a relatively low-tech planet, with almost no species other than human. I will be sending a team of two - Tekli and Sam Carter, if they agree?"

"Yes, Master Solusar," came Tekli's immediate, soft reply.

"It'll have to be three then," Sam told him, smirking.

"Why?"

"You think this furry lump is going to let me out of her sight!" She gestured towards Dentralla, who glowered in reply but remained silent.

"Alright then, three," Kam replied with a grin. "Kyle Katarn will be in command of the Temple in our absence. Kyle, Sam, Dentralla, Tekli…the rest of you are dismissed." Kam waved the others goodbye and walked down the few steps to talk to the remaining four. "Kyle, are you okay with being left in command?"

"Sure, be glad to, a nice change of pace from milk runs and babysitting," he replied with a grin.

"Good, now Sam, Tekli, Dentralla, we don't have much information, only a little from some old pre-Imperial records, but this should be fairly straightforward, and you're more than up to the task. You have an hour to get ready. Sam, you'll be piloting one of the Mon Cal shuttles. We don't think that you'll need the weaponry and defences, and you are to avoid it as much as you can, but with your track record…" he joked. Sam remained silent, but rolled her eyes. _It's not my fault trouble follows me like bees to honey. _"Tekli, you'll have one of the standard emergency field med units, so if you think that you will need anything more, collect it and load it on the shuttle." Tekli bobbed her head in acknowledgement, her huge ears flapping slightly with the movement.

* * *

"May the Force be with you," came the crackled reply over the comm unit.

"You too, Kam. Send Luke and Mara our regards." Sam signed off of the comms and resumed her preparations for hyperspace. Although flying x-wings was her passion, she had taken the time to learn to fly a few other, useful things too and had apparently shown an innate skill for it. She'd decided that it was just experience, and years of being in the Air Force.

"All set?" she called back to her passengers as Dentralla finished flicking a few switches and reclaimed her seat as Sam's co-pilot. Receiving affirmations from them both, she pulled the lever, sending the organic looking Mon Cal shuttle into hyperspace. "Okay, it's a three day journey to Brocacnor; I'm going to go and read through the data and meditate." Sam informed them before walking out of the cockpit and heading to one of the ship's quarters. Settling herself on her bunk, she crossed her legs under her and leaned back against the bulkhead. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and started her meditation.

_Fear leads to Anger, Anger leads to Hatred; Hatred leads to the Dark side_

She remembered the words that had been amongst the first things that Corran had said to her when he began training her.

_Is that what it is? I'm afraid of becoming a shell, without emotion, like a Goa'uld host?_ she thought after a while. _They want me to abandon my feelings, to become unemotional, and it's too like the Goa'uld for me to handle. But I don't need to be unemotional; I just need to control the emotions that lead to the Dark side…but what if I can't? What if what I did to the Colonel, Daniel and Teal'c hadn't been real…NO! It was the Dark side screwing with my mind._

She continued this train of thought for a long time, going round in circles until she finally came to a decision, and made a peace of sorts with it.

"I can't forsake them, without them, I am not Me, I'd be someone else…Tok'ra or Goa'uld…but I have to control them." She said it out aloud without realising it, eyes snapping open all of a sudden. She still hadn't dealt with it fully, nor with what had happened in the forest, but the blaring of the proximity alarm had woken her from her trance. Glancing at her chrono, she realised that she had sat there for the entire journey, but she felt wonderfully rested for it, and had an add kind of peace within her that hadn't been there before.

Jumping up she jogged into the cockpit and took her seat in front of the controls, immediately silencing the grating alarm.

She glanced at Dentralla once when the Wookie made a comment, redirecting her gaze back at the controls as her hands flew over them.

"I wasn't asleep. I was meditating on whether it would be of the Dark side to space a giant fur-ball with a bad sense of humour." Dentralla harrumphed, knowing that Sam wasn't serious, but that she hid behind sarcasm and humour when she was uncomfortable. Dentralla didn't know it, but it was a tendency Sam had picked up off of Jack, after so many shared experiences that they didn't want to talk about.

Hitting the button for the intercom, she warned Tekli that they were about to revert to real space.

Pulling the lever back to its original position, she watched the stars stretch into long lines and then shorten to the star field of an unfamiliar system.

"Okay, no unfriendlies…which planet are we heading for 'Tralla?" The Wookie pulled up a chart on one of the screens and growled her reply, gesturing out of the view port at the same time. "The second one in?" Dentralla nodded and Sam changed their vector to head towards the large Blue-Green planet, pausing only to put her black, non-slip pilot gloves on, having learned the hard way that sweaty palms was not a good thing when you're flying.

"Brocacnor Control to…_Peacemaker_, please change vector and do not attempt to land. We are in the middle of an epidemic and are trying to keep everyone away to stop the spread of it. Repeat; change vector and do not attempt to land." The unsure voice of a comm officer came over the unit, crackling slightly with static.

"At least it has not yet reached spaceport control yet, there is still some hope that it has not spread any further." Tekli commented as she appeared from the aft of the ship and strapped herself in.

"No, it has. That was just a kid, he was unsure and he didn't have the experience that comm officers are usually required to have. I'd say that all the regular officers had been taken out, and he's all that they could find," Sam replied, frowning at the console for a moment before putting on the headset and hitting the send button.

"Brocacnor Control, this is the _Peacemaker_. We're requesting an approach vector. We're Jedi. We're here in response to a distress call we received. We've come to help."

"I…uh…you can't…you'll catch it too…" The kid on the other end of the line stuttered and stumbled over his words, obviously panicking, and torn between following the orders he was given and the desire for some kind of help for his people.

"Hey, don't worry…I've got a healer with me, she's gonna come down there and try and make everyone better. If she can't, then we're not going to be leaving any time soon either."

"Bu-"

"Ah! Just give me a vector, and the co-ordinates of the nearest clear space near you, we'll land and meet you and get to work on a cure." Dentralla was 'urfing quietly in the background. The only time she had even seen Sam this soft spoken and gentle was with Valin, or the Solo kids, and even then, it had been when they were upset, unsure, or injured.

"Okay…I'm sending it now." Sam shot Dentralla a dirty glare as she received the co-ordinates and moved the ship down through the clouds and landed it in a large courtyard amidst stone buildings. Grabbing a few basic supplies, they made their way down the ramp and into the sunlit yard. Tekli had been about to ask what direction they were to head in when a small figure came jogging out of one of the far doors.

"Are, are you the Jedi?" he asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, I'm Sam, this is Tekli, and this is Dentralla," Sam introduced them, repressing a smile at the awed look on the boy's face when he looked up at Dentralla.

"I'm Ferdin," he replied. "I'll take you to the Research Facility? They were looking at it, trying to figure out what it was, but the scientists were some of the first to fall to it." The boy could only have been about 14 or 15, and he seemed very jumpy as they were walking along. Every so often he would jump at a sound and Sam quickly came to the conclusion that something had given him a reason to be jumpy and unclipped her Lightsaber, holding it ready just in case. Corran had told her on numerous occasions that she was paranoid and she'd retorted quickly that she was alive because of that paranoia.

A twenty minute walk later and they had arrived at the facility without mishap. Tekli immediately launched into the records, determined to find a cure as soon as possible whilst Sam and Dentralla decided to do a sweep of the building, check to see if it was safe. That left Ferdin – who had left an automated message for any other ships that may enter the system, although it would be unlikely – with Tekli, to show her around and make sure she could find everything.

Dentralla, carrying her traditional Wookie Bowcaster, was surprised by the efficiency and experience that Sam showed as they carried out a check on the building. Using her blaster, she held it in two hands - standard military posture – and aimed it at the floor as she walked along, bringing it up and sighting along it as she turned a corner, or entered a room, the same way that she had so many years ago when off-world, or even on-world.

They had nearly finished their sweep when they came to what she guessed were iso-rooms, close by the lab where they had left Tekli. As they approached, they could hear howling, screams, banging and grunting…an odd cacophony of sounds that were eerily familiar to Sam.

Walking down the corridor, she peered into a few of the rooms, and what she found made her jaw drop, and her eyes widen until she looked like they were going to pop out of her head.

A few minutes later, she had regained her composure, and her face was set with a determined, steely look that would have sent full-bird Colonels running for cover.

"I know what this is," she told the befuddled Wookie, who growled a question in reply. "I've _had_ it before," she answered before turning and running out of the corridor, sprinting towards the Lab, where she found Tekli stood on a stool, large ears twitching as she peered into a microscope designed for humans.

"I know what it is," she told Tekli, who looked up at her in surprise. "We found some people; in the Iso-rooms…you know the symptoms?"

"Yes, I've been going through the notes," Tekli replied.

"It's a histamine-alyitic; it feeds on histamine," Sam told her, trying to dredge up all of her memories of the Touched Virus they thought they had wiped out so long ago.

"Are you certain?"

"Fairly, but you might want to do some tests. Administering an anti-histamine cures it, but I don't know doses or the effects on different species or anything." Tekli nodded thoughtfully, muttering under her breath as she went about testing Sam's theory.

Still glowering, Sam turned to Ferdin.

"Ferdin, can you get me access to all the notes on where the first cases were found, shipping information and spaceport records?"

"I, I, I don't know…some of it, maybe, but spaceport records are confidential, you need a high ranking security code to get into them."

"Damn. Well, can you get me to a console where I can hack into it?"

"I guess…"

"Thank you." Sam forced a smile for the kid, trying to encourage him. "'Tralla, will you stay with Tekli while I-" she was cut off by the Wookies howled protest that she owed Sam a life-debt, not Tekli. "'Tralla, this is important, I have two Lightsabers and a blaster, I'm only going a little way away, and I'll be back in no time. I need you to stay with Tekli, because she's going to need your help later. I have my comm on me, so I can check in or call for help." Dentralla tried to protest again, but Sam cut her off. "Dentralla, this is important. Please?" The hairy biped finally gave in, though she grumbled about it immensely.

"This way," Ferdin announced, walking back out of the corridor they had entered through.

"So Ferdin, how did you manage to end up in charge here?"

"My father was in charge of the Space port and my brother was the day-time comm officer. They've been training me when I wasn't in school over the last few years, so that I can work in the space port when I'm older."

"That must've been nice." Ferdin shook his head.

"No, I want to be a fighter pilot, like the people in Rogue Squadron." He paused a minute before continuing shyly. "If you're a Jedi, then do you know Luke Skywalker and Corran Horn? They were two of the best pilots in Rogue Squadron." Sam couldn't help but smile at this, bitter though she felt towards Corran at the moment.

"I do, yes. In fact Corran Horn is my Master."

"He is? Wow!" Ferdin was grinning like a Cheshire cat now, but the smile soon faded in the face of the people who had been affected by the Virus. As they walked through the eerily quiet town, heading towards the Spaceport control, they came across the occasional body of a man, or woman, laying where they had been killed by another, in a fit of anger or a fight over food.

Sam could see Ferdin actively trying not to look at it, and to keep the contents of his stomach where they belonged, but he couldn't manage it and Sam rubbed his back to soothe him, holding his hair out of the way while he divulged what was left after his first walk through the city to meet them. It suddenly struck her that she no longer reacted with anything more than pity when she saw a body strewn in the street, when she would, many years ago have felt anger at someone for killing them, revulsion or sorrow, she would have felt _something._

Nar Shadaa had solved that. It was a regular occurrence on the Smugglers' Moon to see some denizen of the street fallen where he lay, probably because he'd pissed someone off, or failed to pay up on time. She'd wonder briefly when she saw them whether they'd been one of the ones that hadn't deserved to die, or of the ones who had stolen, kidnapped, murdered, raped or betrayed at some point. On Nar Shadaa, most of them had, although that was purely because the 'bad guys' outnumbered the 'good guys' about a million to one.

Walking on in silence, Sam mused on her thoughts for a while, not helping her already ireful and angry mood. When they arrived at the building, Ferdin lead her to a small room with several consoles and data retrieval points.

"You any good at data retrieval?" she asked the boy who stood hovering beside her.

He shrugged. "I guess…"

"Well then, do you want to pull up all of the data on when the virus first appeared, where it was…everything you can, whether you think its useful or not, no matter how tenuous the link, alright?" He nodded and Sam added, "including security holos," as an afterthought. Turning to her own console, she immediately set about hacking into the spaceport records, looking for details of which ships had docked, where they had come from and where they were going.

As she did this, she thought about the implications that the Touched Virus being in this galaxy meant. If she could trace it back – not least to stop its spread – then she may have a link to the Stargate and, if she could get one of the devices they had used to take her from her galaxy, she may be able to get home. Even if she couldn't get one of the devices, she could at least stop them from taking more people as slaves.

She knew that the…less savoury characters of the galaxy wouldn't hesitate to exploit the gate as Shivral Telk had, and she shuddered to think what would happen if one of the Jedi fell to the dark side and got hold of it.

Finally slicing into the back door of the network, she set about pulling all information since the virus had first been, and the few days beforehand. Saving all the information onto her data pad, she neatly covered her tracks, erasing all trace that she had been there at all. As soon as Ferdin was done as well, she saved the information to the data pad and started on their way back, once again trying not to pay too much attention the occasional bodies that littered the way.

Sam was still unsure as to what she was going to do with the information, or how she was going to deal with it, but she knew she would have plenty of time to think about it before they would be finished on the planet.

Arriving back at the Lab where she had left Tekli, she found the Chadra Fan with the first of the test subjects, just administering a dose to the young man.

"Did it work?" Sam asked her, receiving a non-committal shrug from Tekli, who was concentrating almost wholly on the man in front of her.

"I think it will; this is the first test," She told her vaguely.

"Okay. I'll help wherever I can. If you need me, just come get me." Sam told her quietly, knowing that they were talking weeks before a sufficient number of the population were cured for them to be able to leave it in the hands of the natives and before they would be able to go home.


	10. Reunited

**Chapter 10 – Reunited**

Corran jumped down off the X-wing, wiping his hands on a greasy cloth and giving his visitor a large grin.

"Luke…" His grin fell as he caught the troubled look in the Jedi Masters eyes. "What is it?"

"You'd better come; you'll have to see this." Corran nodded and grabbed his jacket before following Luke out. A short while later they arrived at the long-range holonet centre to find Mara already waiting there, an indecipherable look on her face. Walking wordlessly over to his wife, Luke slipped an arm around her waist and hit the button to play the message.

Corran was surprised when he saw a quarter-sized image of Sam appear, flickering slightly, and his eyebrows almost disappeared into his hairline.

"Whoever receives this, please make sure that this message reaches Corran Horn or Master Skywalker urgently." The figure paused for a moment before continuing. "Look, I know I didn't leave on the best of terms with you, Corran, and I know I left abruptly, but I had my reasons, and they are ones that I can't put over the holonet. You remember what I said in the message I left? Well I need your help now. This is a matter of life or death for countless people; you have to trust me. I've sent the information that you will need. Please." The image reached out and hit a control, flickering out of existence.

"Well. That was…"

"Unexpected?"

"Understatement." Mara moved over to one of the consoles and pulled up the information that had been sent with the holo message.

"It's planetary data, co-ordinates, the usual stuff that a strike force would need if the were going to take a facility…and there's the data on the facility…I didn't know that Sam knew these kind of things."

"Neither did I." Corran frowned, thinking back to the message that Sam had made before she left abruptly about 9 months ago.

"Corran. I'm sorry. This has nothing to do with any of the Jedi, or anything that has happened to me recently. This is something that I know I have to do. If this works, I will have a way to stop the people who took me from my planet, a way to stop them from taking any more people.

Please, don't try to follow me. Where I'm going is going to be dangerous enough, without a bunch of Jedi following me and I know that you could track me of you really wanted to. I'm not stupid. But if you do, you will only make things worse, not only for me, but for billions of people in this Galaxy.

I will need your help at the end, though, and I need you to trust me on this. I hope that when the time comes, I will have your full support and trust. I've lost enough friends; I don't want to lose another. I'm sorry." He looked at the frozen image, knowing that Sam never lied – well, except to tell them that she was fine when she was dying - about anything important. If she didn't want to tell you something, she would simply avoid speaking about it entirely. He sighed and wondered briefly if he had just condemned his first apprentice to the dark side by deciding not to follow her.

"So…?" Luke asked, appraising him quietly with those piecing blue eyes of his.

"So…let's go," Corran said with a shrug. Luke smiled and turned to his wife.

"What other information has she given us?"

* * *

Sam sat in the cockpit of her ship, waiting. She hoped that Corran and Luke would come, and that the information she had been able to gather had been correct. She had been at the facility for only two weeks, trying to gather information on how many people there were, where they were, what forces Telk had to defend the place with, etc. Her job would have been made easier if she'd been able to use the Force to alter people's perceptions slightly, to suggest things to the weak-minded, as Luke and Corran both could, but she couldn't do anything like that at all.

She'd been found out when she brushed off one of the other mercenaries when he'd tried to force himself on her. It had been then that they'd seen the Tattoo on her wrist, denoting her as having been brought through the 'Gate at another time.

She'd made it out just in time to reach her ship and fly out of there, making a micro-jump out of the system, sending her message to Corran before jumping back in system and landing on an asteroid to wait for the back-up, if it ever came.

Five days later and she was starting to think that Corran had either not received the message, or had disregarded it.

"No, no word yet," Sam said as Dentralla walked in, seating herself in the large Wookie-sized co-pilot's seat that they had installed for her and barking a question. Sam smiled at her next comment, but it was a tired, careworn smile. "It's alright. If they don't come, we'll just have to find another way." Dentralla whined an agreement, understanding what this meant to Sam now that the blonde Jedi had explained it to her. She'd had to after they had…appropriated their ship and flown from Yavin 4 without a word.

Sam continued to stare out of the view port for what seemed like an age, blinking in incomprehension when three ships decanted from hyperspace. One of them was a Star Destroyer. The others were a Corellian corvette and an assault cruiser. Immediately, countless little white dots streamed from the ships, buzzing around like flies.

Sam jumped into action, barking orders to Dentralla and hitting the thrusters to take off from the slow moving asteroid. Once she was free from it, she hit the comm and relayed a message to the three ships.

"This is Captain Sam Carter of _The Peacemaker_. Identify yourselves." As she did this, she reached out with the Force, searching for…

"Is that anyway to greet your Master?" _Corran!_ Sam broke into a grin at the sound of Corran's voice, just as she connected to him through the Force.

"Corran, good to hear you." She yelled into the headset.

"You too. Look, if we're going to have the element of surprise, then we need to get out of the shadow of this moon, and dirt side as soon as."

"Right, see you down there." With that, Sam signed off, immediately going into her efficient, no nonsense mode.

Corran, stood on the bridge of the _Errant Venture,_ raised his eyebrows in surprise as he turned and jogged towards the troop transport to catch a lift down to the planet.

"I didn't know _The Peacemaker_ could get up to speed that fast." He commented to Luke, who gave him a grin.

"She couldn't."

"Oh."

They jogged into the docking bay of the _Errant Venture_, glad that Mirax had been able to persuade her father, Booster to help out with the mission. He suspected that she'd used a combination of guilt and threats to persuade the disreputable man to take a break from being a pleasure ship.

When they arrived on the planet's surface, Mara, Luke, and Corran followed the troops out, meeting up with Sam and Dentralla as the New Republic teams lined up, waiting for their orders.

After a brief discussion, Luke and Mara took one team to find and release all of the slaves left on the planet while Sam and Corran took another team of around 20 off to search the rest of the facility.

Corran followed Sam silently, watching her quietly as she jogged along, leading the team with a military experience that Corran had previously seen only on a minor scale compared to the way that she was now behaving.

They kept to the sides of the corridor, moving almost silently on, all commands relayed through the comlink headsets. They met only a few people along the way, who fell to the blasters of the team, or surrendered easily, with almost no fuss.

After about half an hour of searching through the corridors, they finally came to a large room with a huge circle stood towards the back, on a raised stone dais. A little way in front of it was a mushroom-shaped device. The troops moved in, spreading out and lining the room, forming a long rank along the back of the room, about a quarter of the way in at Sam's command. Corran joined them, standing ready with a rifle, and his Lightsaber. They all jumped in surprise as the inner rim of the circle began to move, rumbling around, while triangles on the outside slid into positions and glowed. Corran could feel Sam's emotions radiating, a roiling sea of emotions that he was unable to tell apart.

* * *

Jack waved good-bye to General Hammond and turned, stepping through the Gate with the newest member of his team. The minute his feet touched the ground on the other side and his eyes snapped open, he knew that something was off. There was something strangely familiar about the room.

Acting on instinct, he reached out and grabbed Sorrell's tactical vest, stopping the kid from falling down the steps, simultaneously raising his P90 to cover the array of people standing in front of him, sensing more than seeing Teal'c and Daniel do the same.

Standing a short way away was a tall, blonde figure that was oddly familiar, arms raised and holding a sidearm of some sort directly at them. He felt like he should have recognised her, but in the dark, it was hard to see the facial features of the woman.

The troops lined behind her had snapped their weapons up, too, and stood with an unwavering accuracy that showed practice, training, and experience.

"Daniel," he muttered, prompting the archaeologist to do his 'we come in peace' speech.

The room had been empty when they had sent the MALP through, using an adaptation of the device that had been left on the planet by the people who had taken Sam. It had taken them several years to figure it out, but now there was a 'long distance' trips made through the 'gate by one team each week. This week was SG1's turn. Figures.

Before Daniel could even begin his speech, someone right at the back of the lines of troops shot an energy weapon. A streak of red light went whirring through the air, hitting Sorrell directly in the face and dropping him to the floor lifelessly.

Jack cursed and opened fire on the people, barely registering an anguished scream of "no!" that preceded the blast by a microsecond.

* * *

Sam stared in shock and trepidation as the Stargate whirred into action. She could feel the surprise and curiosity of the troops behind her, including Corran's watchful and Dentralla's determined, presences.

She watched as four people stepped through the event horizon, immediately recognising the familiar forms of Daniel and Teal'c, shortly followed by Jack, and then an unknown person. She snapped her blaster up, aiming it at them and watching them closely. There was no way that this could be real. The chances of her arriving just then, and it being them that came through just then were several billion to 1. It was the dark side messing with her head again.

She'd had people messing with her mind too much over the last few years. It must be a dream or something.

Reality came crashing down on her when her danger sense tingled, telling her that something was going to happen.

"No!" she screamed, turning so that she was sideways on to both groups. She raised her arms, hands up and palms facing outwards to either side of her in the universal gesture to stop. Reacting as quickly as she could, relying on the promptings of the Force she erected two Force barriers, one to either side of her.

She wasn't in time to stop the first bolt, which screamed out from behind her troops and hit the unknown member of the team in the head, his presence in the Force blinking out abruptly. She dimly sensed Dentralla and Corran try to push their way forwards to his side, but held them back with the Force.

All hell broke loose on either side of her as the humans from Earth – SG1 – started to fire in retaliation, prompting the New Republic forces to return fire. Sam drew in the energy from the blaster bolts to her right, vaguely aware that the fiery red bolts seemed to fizzle into nothing as she absorbed the energy through the Force, using it to sustain the telekinetic wall that she had slammed up to stop the armour piercing bullets of the P90's, absorbing the energy from the staff weapon that Teal'c was firing.

Sensing his realisation that it wasn't working, she felt the tall Jaffa cast the staff aside and pull out his zat. At the same time, she felt Jack drop his P90, leaving it dangling from his vest as he pulled out a knife and threw it. As they had done this, Daniel had grabbed the now dead fourth member of the team, dragging him back to the little cover that they could find behind the gate.

Both sides finally stopped firing, though Sam wasn't sure if it was because they had realised that they were having no effect, or because of the powerful suggestion that Corran sent through the Force, using his skill for affecting people's minds to persuade them to drop everything and stop.

As soon as they had stopped, Sam made an executive decision, deciding that for this to work, she had to treat both sides the same for now. Using some of the excess energy from the fire fight, she reached out, pulling weapons from the hands of everyone except Dentralla and Corran, redirecting the energy from the Force to melt clips that fastened weapon to wielder where she needed to.

Gathering all the weapons, she used the Force to fling them against the farthest wall, along with all of the spent ammo. They clattered into the wall, skidding across the floor to crash rest in a heap of glinting metal.

Reaching out again, she found the presence of two beings trying to sneak out of the room.

Knowing that it was them that had killed the SG member and had tried to bring around the slaughter of the majority of the people in the room, she felt the familiar rush of her anger, still wild and uncontrolled after the time that she had spent tracking down this planet.

She used the anger, controlling it as she created a fierce wind that swept around from behind her, rushing around without affecting anyone but the two beings, which it swept up, pinning their arms to their sides and rushing around in a wide arc to bring them in to face her.

As soon as she saw their faces, she recognised them.

Human Shivral Telk, and his second Mo'chin, a tall Barabel.

The two came to rest in front of her, still floating inches off of the ground, and Sam felt her anger well up almost uncontrollably.

"Shivral Telk," she snarled at the man in front of her. The man's eyes were fearful as he faced her, unable to move. "Remember me? No. I don't suppose you do. Shame." Telk could apparently see her seething anger in her eyes as he gulped noisily and his eyes darted around in his head.

Sam could feel the Dark side calling, telling her that she could stop him if she gave in, she could feel the power pulsing in her veins raw, and unstoppable.

She suddenly frowned a little more and reached out, using the Force to pull something from around the man's neck. She grinned maliciously at him as she grasped the two discs on a chain. Understanding dawned on the man's face as she looked at him and growled, "Remember me now?"

Feeling her anger swell, she clenched her dog tags in her left hand, reaching out with her right and holding it just in front of the two slave traders.

Clenching her fingers as if she was trying to squeeze his heart from without, she drew on the Force, and began to draw his life energy from him.

She could not hear the screams of Corran or the roars of Dentralla as they tried to reach through the darkness to her.

What she did hear though, was the almost silent mutter of one Colonel Jack O'Neill.

"Oh my god, Sam!"

She faltered, eyes widening as she realised what she was going to do and a single tear threaded its way down her cheek.

Sobbing once,she letthe two fall to the ground, Telk clutching at his chest and breathing heavily.

She backed away from them, shaking her head and muttering "no, I'm sorry" repeatedly.

She was surprised when she was suddenly engulfed in a powerful hug, another thud followed shortly, announcing the presence of another hugging her from behind.

The two comforting presences were suddenly gone, and she looked up, wondering where they had gone, to find an angry Dentralla glowering at Jack and Daniel, Teal'c rushing over to defend them. She felt Corran's hand on her shoulder and turned to look at him. What she saw there surprised her.

"You beat it. You didn't fall," he told her quietly, knowing what she was thinking.

"But, I almost-"

"But you didn't," he told her, staring deep into her eyes, showing her what he meant through the Force too.

They stood like that for a few minutes before Sam nodded, realising that, although she had to deal with it, she had beaten it this time, she had passed the test and it would make her stronger. But they had a situation to deal with right now. Temporarily locking away her problems in that way was a skill she had learned since coming to this galaxy, knowing that if she dwelled on it right now, she'd die.

She heard Dentralla's threatening growl and glanced briefly at her three old friends before looking back at Corran and impulsively giving him a rib-cracking hug.

"Thanks for trusting me," she whispered in his ear. Corran gaped in shock as she released him and walked over to Dentralla.

Sam had never hugged anyone, let alone him before.

As Sam reached Dentralla, the Wookie half turned, keeping her bowcaster trained on the three strangers and delivered an intense diatribe to Sam, telling her exactly why she shouldn't do stupid things like that.

Sam rolled her eyes, her fears and doubts locked safely away for the time being.

"You're just worried that if I die, half the population of Kashyyyk will kick your ass." Dentralla, seeing that Corran had recovered and now stood beside Sam, finally let enough of her attention drop to catch Sam in a one-armed hug, ruffling her hair when she finally let go. The two were used to each others teasing and knew that neither really meant anything by it.

Turning back to the three men – well, two men and a Jaffa – Sam gave them a bright, heartfelt but nervous grin.

"Uh, hi guys." She watched all three of them stare for a moment, before Jack pointedly shifted his eyes to the weapons aimed at them. Sam's smile faded. "Uh, yeah…" reaching out with the Force she felt them all, seeing if they were human – which they were – and real – which they were – before looking at Corran, who gave her a nod, telling her that they were real. "It's alright, 'Tralla, they're friends." Dentralla growled a question at her and Sam rolled her eyes. "No, not like that 'friend' on Nar Shadaa, these are _real_ friends." She took a deep breath. "From my home Planet." Corran and Dentralla both looked at her sharply, their faces screaming 'What!'

"Long story, now's not the time," Sam explained, suddenly frowning and turning, calling her blaster to her with the Force and slipping it into the holster, having dropped it when she put up the Force barriers only a short while ago. Dentralla lowered her weapon, though she didn't lower her guard just yet.

Sam took a hesitant step forwards and was immediately enfolded in a hug again, with even Teal'c breaking his usually stoic bearing to join in as they muttered their greetings to her. It was as if they had to feel her to make sure she was actually there.

"Uh, guys, nice as it is to see you again, I kind of need to breathe."

"God, Sam, we're sorry. We never thought we'd see you again an-"

"Sorry." She cut Daniel off, giving his hand a quick squeeze in apology. "Corran, you getting this?"

"Yes." Whatever he had been going to say was suddenly cut off as a stream of beings suddenly burst in through a back door, behind the gate. Sam reacted instantly, pulling all the weapons back from the corner and sending them skittering to their respective groups as Corran stepped in with his Lightsaber to deflect the bolts being directed at the group. The Troops wasted no time either, immediately returning fire at the people that were making their way in through the small door. If the door had been any larger, they would have been swamped and unable to hold their own.

Hearing the recall given by the leader of the New Rep forces from the bridge of the _Errant Venture,_ Corran shouted to her to get them back to the transport and out of there; he would take the rear. Nodding once, she turned to SG1, only to find them running towards the 'Gate. Immediately seeing what they were up to, she cursed and used the Force to retrieve the lifeless body of their fourth member.

"You three, on me. Teal'c." She left the body in the care of the strongest of the group, ordering him to leave the cumbersome staff behind. When he protested, she gave him a push and told him, "No. Take this, we'll do the shooting, but you'll only fall behind with that." She handed him her blaster and yelled out to the strike team. "Red team, on me. Keep up, and if anyone falls behind, help them. We don't have much time. Corran, we're heading out!" Teal'c tried to protest that she would be unarmed but she just shook her head, and grinned wickedly, telling them that they would see.

Ordering the Earth Humans to the front of the group, Sam led the way, accompanied by Dentralla, using the Force to determine that yes; Corran was there at the back, defending their rear.

Following the route that she had mapped in her brain, she lead them at a fast jog towards the docking bay where they ships were.

"Corran, Sam, come in." She heard Luke's voice over her the comlink and used the Force to hit the button to reply.

"We read you. Go ahead."

"We're back at the ship; do you need help?"

"No. We're on our way; get out of here." Sam could almost see the nod that Luke would have given to that.

"May the Force be with you."

"And you. Out."

They were almost free when they ran into the enemy troops. Skidding around the corner to turn back away from them, Sam took a deep breath and, seeing Corran heading her way, she called out to them once again.

"Alright, keep it together; we've got one last bit then we're free. Follow behind me, and get straight to the ship. As soon as the last of Red Team is aboard, get out. Ready? Lets go."

Pulling out her Lightsaber, she clutched the metal hilt in her still gloved hand, thumb over the activation switch. Holding up fingers to count, she signalled: 1, 2, 3…and ran out, igniting the shining violet blade and sprinting ahead, deflecting the bolts before they could reach the rest of the team.

Showing the depth of their experience, the SG-oners barely even hesitated at the sight of the blade, shooting down the enemy with accurate shots as Sam bounced the bolts back at them.

Reaching the alcoves where they were trying to hide, Sam jumped and rolled in the air, coming down with her second blade ignited and spinning in the small corridor, deftly taking out the last of the attackers in a flurry of acrobatic, yet efficient movements.

Without even pausing, she led them into the now empty docking bay, leaving Red Team to stream towards their ship as she led Jack, Daniel and Teal'c towards the _Peacemaker_, Corran heading towards the Troop Transport he had come down on, checking that Luke and Mara had left on the second one.

Running up the ramp right behind Dentralla, she skidded into the cockpit, leaving Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c to the four passenger seats.

Hands flying deftly over the controls, barking commands at Dentralla, she brought the engines online, out of the 'ready' status that it had been in.

"No, we just need to make it to the _Errant Venture_, leave the navi-comp." Kicking in the sub-light thrusters, Sam took them up and headed out of the atmosphere.

Before they had even reached it, though, she had readings from the tactical computer.

"Sithspit," she cursed. "Dentralla, we're gonna need the quad lasers going. Take Jack and Teal'c and show them where."

"Hey, what about me?"

"No offence, Daniel, but they're more likely to know what they're doing. They're trained soldiers. You're not." Daniel frowned slightly but nodded, understanding her point, glad that her attention was on the controls and not him so she couldn't see it.

"Hello? Anyone there?"

"I am here, O'Neill." The disembodied voices came over the comms, and Sam quickly slipped the headset over her head, speaking into it.

"You two okay there?"

"Peachy."

"I am."

"Controls okay?" She asked distractedly as she manoeuvred through the last layers of the atmosphere.

"Nice and simple."

"Indeed." As if to prove it, they both shot out a few shots just as they broke out into space, just as Dentralla re-appeared.

Adjusting their vector, Sam swung them around to point them at the fierce space battle that was raging only a short way off. She heard the awed gasps from the three men as she did so.

Pulling more power out of the engines, Sam took them to the edge of the fight, contacting the _Errant Venture_ to recall all fighters and make ready to pull the lever as soon as the last were aboard.

"Okay, guys, this is gonna be tricky. Just remember green are friendly, red aren't." With that, she threw herself into the fight, juking and jinking, twisting and turning, manoeuvring through the ships, most of which were enemy as all the friendlies were heading back.

There were large numbers of Uglies – snub fighters jumbled together from different fighters – as well as several large Corvettes and Assault cruisers, and a Dreadnaught that looked suspiciously like a stolen piece of the Katana Fleet, no doubt stolen from the Imperials after Thrawn had been defeated.

Explosions to their port side were punctuated by whoops from Jack and the ship shuddered from hits to the strengthened shield, Teal'c remaining silent as he wiped out ships trying to break through their shields.

"Power to the aft shields!" Sam ordered suddenly, killing forward thrust and rolling to the starboard, watching a proton torpedo go shooting past to detonate on the shields of the _Errant Venture_ a few kilometres ahead of them. Pulling an extra little burst of power from the engines, they finally made it past the shields, and into the safety of the Star Destroyer – at the sight of which, Jack had let out an awed whistle – and she killed the engines, switching to repulsors as she passed through the magnetic shield of the docking bay entrance.

The huge blast doors of the ship rumbled closed as soon as they were through and Sam coasted in, bringing the ship down to a rest, the dull cluck of the docking web was abbreviated by the sudden jump to hyperspace.

Sam wiped the sweat off of her face and onto her sleeve, slumping back into her chair.

Glancing across at Dentralla, she sighed.

"Let's go face the music, then," she said, unconsciously slipping back into the 'lingo' of her home. Dentralla growled a question and Sam waved her off. "Oh, never mind."

"What?" Daniel asked, missing half the conversation.


	11. Drinks

**Chapter 11 – Drinks**

Reluctant to move from her chair as she felt the adrenaline leaving her body, the enormity of what had happened and what it meant hit her.

SG1 was here.

She had a way home.

Jack wasn't dead.

None of them were, they were here, with her, alive and well.

She was so lost in her own thoughts thinking about it that when she heard and felt someone enter the cockpit, she automatically reached for her blaster…only to find out that it wasn't there.

"Whoa there, Carter, it's only me." Sam's heart was pounding in her ears and she shook her head to clear the paranoia there.

"Sorry, you made me jump." She turned to Teal'c and he raised an eyebrow."You wish to have your weapon returned to you?"

Sam smiled. "Please. It's my favourite gun." She grinned.

"Yeah, well I don't suppose you need them when you have…glowing swords." Sam grinned at Jack's words, unknowingly echoing those she had said all that time ago. Slipping the blaster into her holster and clipping on the safety, she raised an eyebrow at them. She could feel the questions buzzing around in their minds.

"I know you've got a lot of question, trust me, so have I, but right now, I've been AWOL for about 9 months and Corran's gonna kill me. Slowly." She turned to the Wookie beside her. "'Tralla, where did you-" She was cut off by Dentralla's reply as the biped guessed what Sam had been going to ask.

Beckoning to the three men, she led them out of the cockpit.

* * *

Jack followed Sam out of the cockpit, now thoroughly confused. A moment later, he had one of his questions answered when they entered the quarters where the tall furry alien had strapped Sorrell's body to a bunk.

His expression immediately sobered from the silly grin he'd been wearing to a sombre, grief driven one, echoed by Daniel and Teal'c.

"Wait here." Jack nodded at Sam, watching her from the doorway as she walked in and carefully un-strapped him, picking him up with a surprising ease and carefully carrying him out.

Jack subconsciously added her strength to the list of strange things she had done, to ask her about later.

One look at her face told him that she was angry about what had happened, though he could see that she restrained it and controlled it.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly to the three men.

"Not your fault," Daniel told her.

Sam looked away and led them silently to the hatch, hitting a button and walking down the ramp when it had descended.

As soon as they were out, a harried-looking man jogged over, pushing a hovering gurney, which Sam put Sorrell on.

The medic looked up at Sam. "Not NR?"

"No, but that doesn't mean any less respect," she told him firmly.

"Yes Ma'am." Moving to the keypad on the side of the gurney, he hit a few keys before asking, "Name?" Sam looked over at him and he replied quietly.

"Sorrell, Lieutenant Jeff Sorrell."

Inputting the data, the medic silently led the gurney away, putting it with two of the other bodies, soldiers who had been injured in the firefight and had died on the way over.

Jack watched Sam scan the crowd before apparently seeing whoever it was she was looking for and walking over to meet them.

He watched her go for a few seconds. Dressed in black boots that stopped just below the knee, tight black pants, and a blue jacket with a hood-type thing, he was suddenly aware of how much they stood out, wearing their green fatigues and holding acutely less advanced weapons.

Hearing a grumble behind him, he turned to see the tall, furry alien behind him, making an unmistakable shooing gesture at him.

Turning back to Daniel and Teal'c, he raised an eyebrow at them.

"Shall we?"

"Indeed."

They arrived at the group just in time to hear the reply to Sam's question of 'what happened?'

"Shortly after we landed, a few ships came out of hyperspace and started pounding on the _Errant Venture_. They were doing fine until that dreadnaught appeared, along with a lot of uglies, and – I don't know if you noticed – a lot of TIE fighters. Whoever was running that operation down there has Imperial backup."

"I thought we had a truce with the Imps?" Sam asked, frowning.

"We do; we think that it might be one of the renegade warlords that ran when Pellaeon made peace with the NR."

At this point Jack looked at Daniel and Teal'c, who both shrugged, neither of them having a clue what was happening.

"So, Sam, care to introduce us to your friends?" asked the shorter of the two men, the one with the goatee. The taller man had sandy hair and had weaved his arm round the waist of the red-haired woman beside him. Sam grimaced and sighed.

"Right. Guys, this is Jedi Knight Corran Horn, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, and Jedi Knight Mara Jade-Skywalker. This is Colonel Jack O'Neill, Doctor Daniel Jackson and Teal'c. They're the rest of the team I was a part of on my home planet."

Jack didn't miss the surprise on the faces of the three Jedi – whatever that was – when Sam said where she knew them from.

What surprised him was the slight feeling of pain that he felt at the thought that Sam hadn't told anyone about her team, her family. He immediately banished the thought, thinking that he probably would have done the same, knowing that it would just have caused pain.

"How did they get to be in the middle of a slave trading facility on some planet on the edge of known space?" The red-head introduced as Mara Jade-Skywalker questioned, appraising them with an experienced eye.

"Yeah, that's not really something that we want to discuss here," Sam told them cryptically.

"Of course not," Corran replied dryly, shooting Sam an indecipherable look.

"Where are we heading?" Sam asked with a sigh.

"Coruscant. We'll drop off the troops and then Booster's taking us to Yavin. He's been complaining that he doesn't get to see his family enough." Sam didn't miss the worry in her three friends as it escalated at the realisation that they wouldn't be going near the 'gate any time soon.

She shot them an apologetic look, resisting the urge to smile at their surprise at her apparent clairvoyance.

Corran, Luke, and Mara sensed this too, wondering why they would want to go back to Telk's planet when they could just fly to their planet whenever they wanted.

"Why don't we…take this discussion somewhere more comfortable?" Luke asked them calmly, gesturing deeper into the ship.

"Sure, why not," Jack replied in a blasé tone, gesticulating with his left arm, trying to hide his confusion and curiosity and fear at being stuck in another galaxy, not knowing that he was broadcasting those very feelings to the Force users.

Neither Jack, Daniel, or even Teal'c could keep the huge grins from their faces at the seeming 'resurrection' of the friend they thought dead, despite being faced with the death of Sorrell and their strange situation. A large part of that was wonder at seeing the inside of the huge ship, especially when they stepped into the turbo lift and travelled up several levels at high speed.

As they walked along the corridors, Sam wished she could have been privy to the telepathic almost-conversation that she knew would be going on, but she knew that she had lost the right to listen in when she had gone AWOL, although she would have been unable to comment either way. For all her skills at telekinesis and energy absorption, she could not for the life of her do Force projection of that kind, much the same as Corran couldn't affect things through telekinesis.

When they arrived at their destination, Sam couldn't help but smirk. _Figures,_ she thought.

Usually a floating entertainment barge like Las Vegas in space for smugglers, the large room would usually have been bustling with various denizens of the galaxy, ranging from those that had nothing but the shirt on their backs to those that could pay someone just to carry the shirt on their backs.

They now stood in one of the deserted, upper-class sabbacc rooms, fully equipped with a bar.

The others seated themselves around a sabbacc table, Daniel staring around in wonder and muttering something about cultural aspects. Teal'c stoically regarded the three Jedi. And Jack…fiddled with the disruptor field in the middle of the table, peering at it curiously while Sam vaulted over the bar and collected drinks.

The three new humans were still wary of Dentralla, and the Jedi made sure that none of them sat next to her.

Knowing that Corran, Dentralla, Luke and Mara would have the usual, it took Sam only a second to decide what she would get the others, and within a few minutes, she was back at the table, placing the drinks in front of them.

She gave Daniel the same as Luke, Jack the same as herself, Corran and Mara, Teal'c a blue Milk and Dentralla a Honey Ale.

"What is it?" Daniel asked, eying the dark brown fluid, steaming slightly apprehensively.

"It's an exotic cocktail, a favourite of Master Skywalker. You'll like it!" she told him with a smirk as he hesitantly took a sip. His face contorted in surprise.

"Its hot chocolate!" he exclaimed.

"Exotic cocktail?" Jack asked, his eyebrows creeping into his hairline. "And this drink, which looks like beer is beer?" he asked hopefully.

"Correllian Ale," she told him, taking a mouthful of her own.

"Not bad," he said, glugging down a mouthful.

"Best you can get," Corran told him, proudly smiling.

"MajorCarter, I know of no earth equivalent that is blue," Teal'c informed her. She unwilling flinched when he said 'Major' but answered as if she hadn't.

"Its blue milk." Teal'c nodded and took a sip before giving his approval.

"So, if you don't mind," Corran began, directing his comment at the three members of SG-1, "I think we need to know where Sam has been for the last 10 months." At this he turned to look pointedly at the blonde next to him.

"It was only 9 and a half," she grumbled quietly before taking a deep breath and continuing. "Well, right after you left for Luke and Mara's wedding, we received the distress signal and Kam sent Tekli and I to the planet." The three Jedi nodded, knowing this all ready. "Well, the virus there is one that I know…I've had it; the Touched Virus," she supplied for her three ex team-mates.

"Didn't we…you know, kill that?" Jack asked, his confusion evident.

"That's what I thought, but, the people who took me could well have stayed on the dark side of the planet, and Tuplo's people would never have known. I mean, we wouldn't have seen them if they hadn't been going in after Milosha."

"Right."

"Well, after getting all the records I could of when and where it was first seen on the planet, I was able to extrapolate a likely carrier for it. By using the in-bound vector it came in on, I was able to compare it to reports of any strange illnesses on planets along that vector. From each of those, I could jump back to the next one in the line. I left data for cures on each of the planets that hadn't figured it out for themselves, and eventually, I managed to find my way back to the planet that I was first taken to." Sam was interrupted by a barked comment from Dentralla.

"No, I am not telling them that." Dentralla protested at great length and Sam sighed in annoyance, shooting the Wookie a glare to kill. "No."

"You can understand what she's saying?" Daniel asked her, receiving a nod. "Incredible."

"No more so than someone who can speak 23 languages, several of them dead," she replied dryly.

"Actually its 24 now," Jack told her, grinning at the blushing archaeologist.

"It is?"

"Yeah, he now speaks Asgard…ian." Sam grinned.

"What, did you get Thor to teach you?"

"No, actually Jack did." Jack glared at Daniel.

"Jack!"

"Yeah, Thor taught him when we got stuck on the Prometheus with Thor." They were interrupted by an irritated roar from Dentralla.

"NO!" Sam told her firmly before continuing. "We went 'undercover' as mercs – mercenaries – " she added at three puzzled stares. "and got all the info that we could, but we were found out after about 2 weeks and had to do a runner."

"That's when you sent us the message?" Luke asked for clarification.

"Yes. I'm sorry; I didn't know they were allied with an Imp Warlord."

"Hey, it's not your fault, and you did more than enough to save the soldiers down there." Corran told her softly. "And you got your friends out of there." He added, putting a hand on her shoulder. Sam looked away, remembering how close she had come to falling.

Sensing the turmoil in her, Corran got to his feet and, shooting a look at Luke, grabbed Sam by the hand, wrapping an arm around her took her into another room to talk to her.

Luke and Mara, sensing the need for Sam's three friends to talk, alone, headed off to the other side of the room with Dentralla and their drinks.

"We'll leave you to talk for awhile," Luke told them, giving them a brief smile.

Jack watched them go before turning back to look at his friends.

"Anyone else finding it just a little creepy that they always seem to know what we're thinking?" he asked the other two.

"What… oh, no. I was just thinking about what happened on the planet, and how it happened."

"It seemed as if MajorCarter was controlling things around her," Teal'c said, a slight frown crossing his face.

"It couldn't be like the thing that happened with Nirrti could it?"

"What thing with Nirrti?" Daniel asked, confused.

"Uh, it happened while you were…ascended. Nirrti tried to make Swiss cheese of everyone's DNA, she nearly killed Sam, but she had these…servants that could you know, wave their arms and make stuff move by telekennetheth…is." Daniel rolled his eyes, knowing full well that Jack knew the word.

"Telekinesis. They also had some telepathic abilities," Teal'c supplied for him.

"Yeah, that. But these guys were all…deformed because of it." They lapsed into silence, contemplating what it could be.

"Looks like she landed on her feet though," Jack finally said, vocalising the relief that they all felt at knowing that she was neither dead, nor suffering as part of some Goa'uld's harem. _And it looks like she got herself a boyfriend,_ Jack added bitterly to himself, an odd sense of disappointment and pain in the pit of his stomach, which he carefully shielded from anyone seeing. His suspicions after seeing the two hug on the planet had just been confirmed by the intimacy that he had shown when he lead her to the other room. Once again, they lapsed into silent ruminations.

* * *

When Corran pulled her up by the hand, Sam didn't protest, knowing that she had to talk about it and get it sorted, though she didn't relish the thought. She also knew that Corran wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer right now.

"What is it, Sam?" he asked her when they reached the safety of the next room.

She was silent for a while before finally speaking in a small, soft voice.

"I almost fell to the Dark Side, Corran."

"But you didn't. You pulled back in time."

"You don't understand," she told him, her voice steely.

"Don't I?" Corran replied, frustrated by her unwillingness to listen. "You think you're the only one who's been tempted by the Dark Side? I have, Luke has, hell, Mara worked for the Dark Side."

"No, you don't!" she yelled, whirling to face him and looking directly at him. "I _stood there, and I was willing to suck his life out of him, kill him by taking the very energy he needed to survive from his cells! I _wanted _to kill him. I thought he _deserved_ to die for taking me from my friends, from my home, and for then trying to kill them! I had that power and I wanted to kill him with it!_"

Sam was on the verge of tears, something that he had never seen before, as she looked away.

"That's what the Dark Side does to you Sam, it corrupts you."

"That's just it. I've felt like this before. Long before I used the Force," she told him, quiet once again. "I had a device on, and I knew that this Goa'uld would kill me and my friends if I didn't use it, so I did. And I felt mighty." She looked back at him, a stark fear shining in her eyes. "That device was controlled by will power."

Corran stared at her for a moment before engulfing her in a huge hug.

"How do you know it wasn't the Force?" he asked her quietly, his words muffled by her hair.

"What?"

"You say it's controlled by will power. How can that work? Do you know it's not the Force?" Sam looked up at him.

"I don't know. We don't know how it works, really, just that it does…" Corran couldn't help but notice that her eyes lit up as she started rattling theories off, explaining things that he didn't understand, races he had never heard of and wars that he would have thought hard to miss, but he had nevertheless.

After a while Sam slowed to a stop.

"Sorry. I got carried away there. And you probably don't understand a thing I'm talking about." Grabbing his arm and looping hers through it in a display of affection that took him by surprise, she dragged him back out of the room. "You'll understand in a while," she told him cryptically, her bright mood returned as quickly as it had left at the realisation that she wasn't evil deep down.

That, coupled with an excitement over new theories fuelled a bright smile as they entered the room, rejoining SG-1 at the table, shortly followed by the Skywalkers and Dentralla.

"So, we got into the facility, ran around for awhile and then we come to a room with this great big, circle thing in it that starts to spin. Then a jet of water spurts out of it before it forms a puddle – standing vertically, don't forget – then these three step out, with a friend," Corran continued, explaining what had happened to Luke and Mara, eager to get some explanations that he just knew Sam had.

"Stargate," she told him.

"What?"

"The big circle is a Stargate, and the puddle is the event horizon of a wormhole." Corran thought she was joking at first, but he soon realised that she was deadly serious.

"Where does it go?" Mara asked immediately.

"Lots of places. As far as I can tell, there is only one in this galaxy," she told them, waiting for their reaction. Everyone in this galaxy _knew_ that you couldn't travel to other galaxies.

They stared at her, dumbfounded.

"By the way, I come from another galaxy," she said with a grin. She could see Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c exchanging glances, sensing that they were wondering why she hadn't told them this before and why this was such a big deal.

"But, you can't travel to other galaxies," Luke said slowly, frowning slightly. She sensed understanding dawn on SG-1's faces.

"Ah, but you can. In a matter of seconds," Jack added, catching on to what was happening.

"That's why you couldn't find your planet," Luke said, realisation dawning.

"Yeah, strange that," she said, still grinning.

"How?"

"The 'gate network spans thousands of planets, connecting them by wormhole, through which matter is broken down, travels through, and re-integrated at the other end."

"But you're human," Corran finally commented.

"Yeah, uh Daniel…" She looked to the anthropologist to explain about the scattering of humans, everyone adding their own two cents to explain about it all, including the Goa'uld, the ancients…everything to them.

* * *

They had finally finished explaining it to them and, now on her third Ale, Sam sat back in her chair.

"Any questions?" she asked, taking a mouthful of the cool drink.

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Mara asked bluntly, making Sam choke on her drink. She shrugged.

"After four years of slavery, living on the Smugglers Moon, I thought that all people in this galaxy were cheats, smugglers, slave traders…generally not people that I wanted to let loose on my home," she explained sombrely.

"And after that?" Corran prompted.

"I didn't want anyone who fell to the dark side to get a hold of something so powerful," she explained.

"We wouldn't have let that happen," Luke told her, sounding more than a little hurt.

"I know that!" She hesitated, trying to explain it, to put it into words. To her surprise, it was Jack that did it for her.

"But after years of paranoia, it's hard to let go." She turned to look at him, seeing his feelings mirrored in Daniel and Teal'c. "God, I'm sorry Sam," he said, having just realised that she wasn't always here, with friends. Daniel and Teal'c echoed him.

"It's not your fault," she told them tightly, giving them a small smile and stopping them from making any more comments when she gave an almighty yawn, looking surprised at the fact that it had crept up on her.

"Come on, I'll show you to your luxury quarters, courtesy of one Booster Terrik," Corran told them, pushing himself to his feet.

A short while later, he stopped outside a door, quickly entering a code into the door, and telling them what it was.

The door slid back, revealing a plush, inviting sitting area with two dark red couches and mahogany coloured wood furnishings. It was decorated well, especially considering that it used to be crew quarters for an Imp Star Destroyer.

"The codes for the rooms are 595. Night Sam." Jack, Daniel and Teal'c smirked at the significance of 595…where Sam had had that drink…

"Night Corran," she told him, giving him another impulsive hug and whispering "Thank you" in his ear.

She turned back into the room as he left to find all three of them standing awkwardly, Jack in particular.

"What?" she asked them, reaching out with the Force in an effort to understand.

"It is good to see you alive and well, MajorCarter," Teal'c told her, bowing slightly.

"Thanks, Teal'c you too. It's just Sam now; I'm not 'major' Carter any more." Jack looked sharply at her.

"What? Sure you've been MIA for nearly 6 years, but that doesn't mean you'll have lost your rank," he told her in surprise, not entirely understanding why she was so adamant that she wasn't anymore.

She shrugged. "Maybe. But I would have had to re-sign about 2 years ago," she told him coldly.

"So what, you just stopped being a Major 2 years ago?"

"No, I stopped being a Major when the Air Force didn't come back for me," she bit back harshly without even thinking about it, surprise registering on her face for only a brief moment.

"Hey, we tried to get you back, but we didn't even know what god-damned planet you were on!" Jack shouted back at her.

"Well maybe you didn't look hard enough!"

"Sam, we couldn't even get the long distance device to work 'til 18 months ago." Daniel's small, childlike tone cut into Sam like a knife.

"Sith! I'm sorry, I, I, I don't know. I _know_ that you couldn't have come after me, but I guess there's this little part of me that feels betrayed because whenever you were stuck, we got you out…never leave a man behind," she told them, slumping to the floor cross-legged and putting her head in her hands.

"Ah," Jack lowered himself beside her, his knees cracking loudly, "you have every right to be angry –" Sam cursed and cut him off.

"No, I don't. I thought you were all dead, and I thought I was over this, but pain leads to fear, fear leads to anger and anger leads to the Dark Side. I should have known."

They looked at her in confusion, Jack's hand still resting lightly on her shoulder. "I was afraid that I would never see you again, afraid that you didn't really care, so I got angry." She told them with a sigh. " And anger leads to the Dark Side." The pain of her close encounter was still very close and she knew the dangers. All of a sudden, she found herself crying for the first time in who knew how long.

"Hey," Jack said softly, pulling her into a strong hug, clinging onto him as she released all of her pain, fear and anger through her tears.

Within seconds, Daniel and Teal'c had joined them in a big huddle of old friends re-united.


	12. Change

**Chapter 12 – Change**

Jack woke to the soft hum of the engines, a grin immediately spreading across his face at the memory of a very much alive Sam Carter, though it was tempered by the thought that she had some really…unusual abilities now. Climbing out of the large bed-cum-bunk, he stretched and ran a hand through his hair. Pulling on his combat trousers, he walked barefoot across the carpeted deck of the ship, hitting the button to open the door.

They had all chosen one of the four rooms that night and climbed gratefully into bed, exhausted both physically and emotionally.

The door opened, and he stepped out into the room, stopping dead about a foot from the door as it slid shut behind him.

Sam had cleared the sofas from the middle, creating a large clear space in which she was now balancing on one hand, the other stretched out sideways, toes pointing into the air. All around her, small objects were flying in orbit, weaving in and out of each other without ever colliding.

She was wearing only a black tank top, and the black legging-trousers, her bare skin a golden tan colour, something she'd never had in the secluded mountain.

He gaped in shock, just standing there, hair dishevelled, t-shirt crumpled and still sleepy-eyed. She had her back to him and he couldn't see her face but he guessed she'd be concentrating.

"Hey, Jack." He nearly jumped out of his skin when she called out to him, the objects floating off to appropriate corners of the room as she lowered her left hand to the floor before agilely planting her feet back on the ground and up righting herself. She turned to face him, a grin on her face as her blood flowed back out of her face.

"What were you doing?" he asked, still stunned.

"Meditating."

"Meditating…as in Teal'c's kind of meditating?"

"Kind of, I guess," she told him, another Goa'uld-Force connection linking in her brain.

"How do you do that?"

"What?"

"The floating stuff thing and the mind reading." He went and joined her by a unit where she was now busy doing...something.

"Want some caf?…Uh, its like Coffee." He nodded mutely, and she handed him a mug of it, setting the synthesiser to make another for her. "The Force."

"Huh?"

"That's how I do the 'floating stuff,'" she told him, smiling at his incomprehension. "I'll explain when Daniel and Teal'c are up. It's not something I want to explain twice."

"Ah, okay." He moved to sit on one of the sofas, Sam sitting at the other end, facing him, though they were only a few centimetres away. They sat in silence for a moment before Sam suddenly frowned and reached out, touching the scar on the inside of his left arm, visible under the material of his black t-shirt

"Is that where…"

"I got shot? Yeah," he finished for her, knowing when she meant.

"It was so close," she said quietly, "I thought you'd been hit in the heart."

"What happened to you?" he asked her, putting down his mug of caf and catching her hand in his. The thin, white lines of scars crisscrossed her hands, looking almost like lace. She shrugged.

"I was working in a glitterstim processing facility – it's a potent drug, generally know as spice – it has to be processed in the dark because light activates it, and the strains have to be aligned precisely. It's sharp," she explained bluntly. He was looking to see other scars now, his mind trying to get around what she must have been through.

"This one?" he asked, still holding her hand and indicating the one over her left collarbone.

"Slave implant. Would have killed me if I tried to get away." She shrugged it off, looking up to meet his troubled eyes.

Jack felt so guilty. It was his fault; he shouldn't have left her on her own like that. He looked back at her face and met her eyes.

He was suddenly very aware of their proximity, and the fact that she was wearing only a tank top, his mind failing to throw up any of his usual arguments about her being his 2IC because she wasn't any more.

He felt his heart racing as he realised that his body wasn't complying, barely recognising that she was moving towards him just as much as he was moving towards her.

One of his hands had released itself from her hand and was now just at the back of her neck, sliding around to pull her head forward. The back of his mind registering the presence of a scar there, left from the cloned Goa'uld that had been put into her while he'd been in the clutches of Baal.

Their lips were so close, they were almost touching now.

He felt Sam stiffen at the same moment that he saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. They both jumped apart as if they had been electrocuted.

"Daniel!" Sam exclaimed in surprise, pulling her hand out of his grip and turning sideways as he did the same.

"Uh, sorry, I'll…just…go…"

"No! No, its okay, do you want some caf? I'll get you some caf." She stood suddenly and went over to the machine as an uncertain Daniel moved over to the sofa opposite and sat himself down. He was attired much the same as Jack was.

It would have been funny if it weren't for the fact that Jack was berating himself for coming on to Sam when he knew that she was with that Corran guy. Carefully locking his feelings away behind his mental barrier, he smiled at Daniel.

"So, Danny, sleep well?" Pretend like nothing happened. He could do that. He always did.

"Yeah, actually. There's nothing like almost getting killed in an alien galaxy to send you to sleep."

"Does it make any difference if it's an alien galaxy or your own galaxy? I didn't think it did."

"No, I guess not. Thanks." He smiled up at Sam as she handed him the mug and sat down next to him, curling one leg underneath her.

"Carter's gonna explain how she does that…"

"Floating thing?" she supplied for him, receiving a glare.

"…for us, as soon as T arrives." Daniel's eyes lit up at that, as he knew they would.

"Really?"

"Yeah. If you're good, I'll even give you a demonstration," she told him cheekily.

"You should do that thing you were doing this morning, with one hand and the moving up and down." Sam raised a suggestive eyebrow and Daniel snorted, choking on his drink. Jack rolled his eyes as Sam started laughing at him, joining Daniel who was trying to hide a smirk behind his mug.

"Teal'c, come and sit down," he said, spying the Jaffa as he entered the room.

"Yeah, Jack was just trying you get Sam to show us what she was doing earlier 'with one hand and the moving up and down'." Teal'c raised an eyebrow and looked at Jack.

"Hey! That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Desist!" They both snapped their mouths shut and turned to look at Teal'c, who was smirking. "I believe you are referring to the mediation technique that Maj- Sam was practicing this morning, where she was balanced on one hand, causing objects to orbit her body."

"See…wait, how did you know that?" Jack asked. Sam smiled.

"He came in earlier," she told him.

"Oh."

Sam took a deep breath before starting talking. "So. You want to know about the Force?"

"The what?" Daniel asked.

"The Force. It's how she does the cool floating stuff," Jack told Daniel smugly, grinning. Sam rolled her eyes.

"Right. The Force surrounds everything; it binds us together. It's life, energy, it's…_the Force._" She found that when it came to actually putting it into words, it was much harder than she could have imagined.

"Sort of like a life force?" Daniel asked.

"Yes and no," Sam replied. "We don't really know _what_ it is, just that it is, and it's the Force."

"What, no super-complicated scientific term for it?" Jack feigned shock.

"No. The closest thing we have are some obscure references to the Knights of the Old Republic-"

"As opposed to the New Republic of now?" Daniel interjected.

"Yes, there was a kind of a galactic civil war, with the Imperials, headed by a Dark Lord of the Sith – The Emperor - and his apprentice – Darth Vader – that resulted in the death of all of the old Jedi, and the formation of the New Republic. They've only just forged a peace with the Imperial Remnant."

"But didn't you say that an Imperial was defending the planet yesterday?"

"Renegade Imp. Back to the point. Obscure references to Midi-Chlorians found in the blood that are indicators of a person's strength in the Force."

"Is it just me that thinks this sounds just a little too much like some hokey Goa'uld religion cooked up to enslave thousands?" Jack asked sceptically, still thinking that it had to be some kind of technology.

"I would think so if I had not seen it with my own eyes," Teal'c commented, receiving a shrug and a nod from Jack.

"So what can you actually do?" Jack asked, getting impatient with the philosophical stuff. Sam grinned somewhat evilly.

"Well, in general, a Jedi can use the Force for augmented speed, stamina, strength, reflexes, healing, sensory perception…umm…for Telekinesis, a certain degree of telepathy, we can sometimes see possible futures…the list goes on."

"There's a but. I can see it coming; I know there's a but!" Jack said, looking defensively at Daniel and Teal'c. "What? She said 'in general', so she's probably got something different." Teal'c raised an eyebrow and Daniel looked at him critically whilst leaning over to Sam and stage whispering conspiratorially.

"Are you sure he doesn't use the Force; he always seems to know these things." Sam raised an eyebrow and reached out with her senses.

He did have a stronger Force sense than most beings, including Daniel and Teal'c, but not strong enough to warrant training; which was probably a good thing, considering his darker side.

"Oh my god!" Daniel exclaimed, looking shocked at Sam's hesitation. "He does! You wouldn't say anything because he does!" Sam couldn't help but smile at the wide-eyed rabbit-caught-in-headlights look on Jack's face.

"I didn't say anything because I was checking with the Force to see." The rabbit look faded and she continued. "However, he does have a stronger Force sense than most beings." And it was back again. "But not a lot." And it faded again. "That's probably why he's so good at what he does." She mused out loud.

"Indeed. He does have an unusual awareness of those around him."

"Hey! I am still in the room, y'know!"

"Really, Jack? I wondered what that smell was!" Daniel replied childishly in mock disinterest.

"Guys! He's right, I have a particular ability with energy absorption, but I have absolutely no skill in Force projection…influencing other peoples minds to change their perceptions or anything."

"They can do that?" Jack balked at the idea, along with Daniel.

"Only to the weak-minded."

A loud beep sounded from a pile beside the sofa, covered in a brown cloth.

Uttering a curse under her breath, Sam stood in one swift motion and stepped over to the pile. Picking up the brown Jedi robe, Sam pulled the comlink out of a pocket and flicked it on.

"Carter," she barked into it.

"Sam, its Corran." His voice echoed out of it and Sam rolled her eyes, hearing Jacks delighted exclamation of 'Great, clean underwear' as their packs were uncovered. She had brought them back from _the Peacemaker_ when she went to get her own stuff and check on Dentralla, who had slipped away when they headed for their quarters last night, knowing that they would want some time to themselves.

"Hey, what's up?"

"We're about to come out of hyperspace at Coruscant. Booster's got a 'delivery' he wants to pick up while he's here, so I suggest you take your friends sightseeing."

"Right."

"Come see me before we leave; Luke's given you access to Jedi funds to outfit those three. We don't know how long it will be before we can get to that Stargate thing to get them home." Corran didn't need to add _If we get to it_ for the words to hang ominously in the air.

"Okay, what's our ETA?"

"30 standard minutes."

"Thanks, see you in 20. Bye."

"Bye."

She turned back into the room to find Daniel and Jack bickering light-heartedly. She repressed the urge to laugh out of pure happiness and settled for rolling her eyes.

"Alright, _kids_." Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, _kids_ and Teal'c," she corrected herself, receiving a slight smile and a nod from Teal'c. "We're going shopping, so I suggest you use the 'freshers and get dressed. We leave in 15." She instructed them. They stared at her blankly. "The refreshers…the bathrooms…showers, y'know that think you do with soap."

"Ah, gotcha. You mean the fancy cubicle thing with all the switches on the outside."

"Want me to show you how to work it?" she asked, keeping a straight face, remembering her initial problems in this world.

"Please."

* * *

An hour and 15 minutes later, they had finally passed Coruscant control and landed in a part of Coruscant that Sam knew well…the marginally respectable places where she was most at home. Here, most of the people were decent, just trying to survive and not to rip everyone off. They were the class in between the denizens and the upper echelons.

She had finished explaining about her unique powers and the Force whilst waiting for clearance to land, gaining a few awed gasps as she did, and several comments of 'sweet' from Jack. She could tell they were all slightly disturbed by the idea that people could read their feelings, and influence their minds, despite Sam's assurance that the Jedi were good and avoided it wherever possible.

She was very carefully keeping her emotions locked away at the moment after what had happened…well, nearly happened with Jack. She didn't know what she was thinking. Now was not the time for this – her emotions were already a bit screwy – and she knew that she wasn't the same person that they knew six years ago. She also 'knew' that it was just a result of heightened emotions and euphoria at the knowledge of them being safe and here. She, as well as Jack kept their feelings locked away and hidden, putting on an act of being fine that they had both perfected over the years.

Stripped of all insignia and wearing only their OG jackets and none of their utility vests, they quickly un-strapped themselves from the seats behind her and Dentralla.

"You'll have to leave your P90s and your Berettas behind," she told them firmly.

"Oh no, Carter. You of all people should know that just isn't going to happen."

She sighed heavily. "I'm not asking you to go unarmed; I'm asking you to leave your Earth – and the Goa'uld weapons – behind. Going in unarmed would be suicide; I'm going to arm you. If you want to be singled out as being easy targets for the scum of Coruscant, then fine! By all means, take your prehistoric slug-throwers in there."

"Slug-throwers?"

"Yeah, that's what they are to them. And the Zats, they just won't recognise. If they don't recognise it, then they won't fear it."

"Is it really safe to go out there?" Daniel asked dubiously.

"Yes. But just don't touch anything, and do as I tell you," Sam informed him. She was exaggerating the state of this particular area of the planet, but it was better safe than sorry.

Leading them back, she went into what served as her onboard quarters. Moving to the bunk, she lifted the mattress, revealing a stash of weapons. Jack whistled in awe, his finger itching to find out what this or that did. Clipping the mattress and lid out of the way, she reached in, immediately knowing where things would be. She pulled out three thigh holsters like her own and handed them to Jack to hold.

Taking the first one, she deftly pulled out the Blaster and checked the power pack. She handed it to Teal'c, quickly showing him how it worked – it was basically the same as any standard 9mm…point, safety off, shoot – and how to reload it. She did the same with the next one, handing it to Daniel instead, though. She finally took the last gun out of the holster, inspecting it quickly as Jack strapped the holster on.

"This is my second favourite gun. Lose it and I will personally castrate you." Jack raised an eyebrow, secretly pleased that she'd given him her second favourite…her favourite still attached to her waist.

She knew that he could handle the higher firepower, and the sensitive trigger better than the other two.

"Yes Ma'am!" he replied sarcastically.

Clipping her Lightsabers onto her holster – one each side of the weapon – she lead them down the ramp and into the brisk Coruscant air, pulling up the loose head sheath she wore around her neck.

They once again stared in awe at the mighty, kilometres tall buildings that towered above them. Dentralla stayed at the rear, ushering Daniel along whenever he stopped to stare at anything. They travelled in silence, the three men silently wondering how Sam could seem so at home in the bustling streets, surrounded by all manner of strange looking aliens.

Eventually, they found their way to a small-ish store, with a sign that told them they were at Sey'laren's All-Purpose Clothes Shop.

They entered to find a well-lit, friendly-looking shop with several posters and mannequins of all shapes and sizes, showing that they catered for non-humanoids as well. Appearing from the back came a fairly young looking, blue-skinned Twi'lek, who smiled broadly when she recognised Sam.

Sam felt Jack and Daniel start when they saw Sey'laren, but they recovered quickly and didn't show it outwardly. Teal'c, as ever, remained stoic.

"Sam!" Sey'laren called out. "It is good to see you."

"You too, Sey'laren."

"And Dentralla. Ever a pleasure." The Wookie replied in kind, making the Twi'lek smile. "So, what can I do for you?"

"I need to dress these three; several outfits and what have you, and I may as well get more of the usual while I'm here."

"Good, good. I don't suppose I can persuade you to maybe vary your wardrobe a little more. Maybe a little something for the mate?"

"No, nothing like that," Sam said, repressing a sigh. She had given up trying to convince Sey'laren that Corran was not her 'mate,' but the woman was adamant about it, so she had given up. "I have got a message for you from him, something he wanted me to get while we were here." She handed her the data pad, leading the men to a console and seating herself.

"What's it say?" Daniel asked curiously.

"It's in basic – English – but where the spoken language is the same, written is different. Okay who's first?"

"Jack, age before beauty," Daniel said, smirking.

"Right. Teal'c it is then." Teal'c raised an eyebrow but consented. In no time at all, they had 'designed' the clothes that they wanted for all three, and they were being synthesised for them.

All three had gone for simple designs, with a few alterations made by Sam for practicality and to make sure that they would fit in. They were mostly variations on pants, black boots, shirts of some sort, and jackets. They would all look at home in a cantina on any planet frequented by spacers, traders or smugglers. Well, except for Daniel's glasses.

Sam got herself a few new tops, trousers, and jackets, as well as a couple of shirts and head sheaths.

She settled the bill, and arranged for the clothes they weren't wearing (including their old clothes) and the elaborate dress Corran had had her make up for Mirax to be sent directly to the spaceport, to be kept in the deliveries port until they got back.

As they left she bid Sey'laren farewell. She cheerfully ignored the Twi'lek woman's babblings about how lucky she was to have a man like Corran, despite the obvious fact that the dress – as every other one had been – was made up to fit Mirax, who was several inches shorter than Sam and had a very different figure. This all amused Dentralla until Sam turned and jokingly threatened to chop her legs off at the knees with her Lightsaber, at which point the Wookie's amusement was transferred onto the light-hearted threat as she affectionately ruffle Sam's hair.

"So, we've go clothes sorted…Daniel. How do you feel about having your eyes corrected?" she asked him, smiling a little.

"I-what?"

"Your eyes, corrected…no more glasses."

"Why?"

"Well…your glasses make you stand out and…that really isn't something that you want to happen here."

"Well, why not? I mean, we'll be going back to Earth soon," he said, innocently looking around at them. "Uh…guys…what do you know that I don't?"

"Daniel," Sam began softly, placing a hand on his arm, "That place is so heavily guarded that we don't know if the NR will give us access to the man power to take it out. Some of them are as bad as Kinsey, if not worse. And even if we could, there's no telling that we could get in, take over and get out, or even just get through the gate. Sith, we don't even know if they'll have moved the 'gate to another location." She saw him look at Jack and Teal'c, knowing that the two older men had come to the same conclusion on their own. He frowned, and Sam could see the cogs whirring in his mind, coming to the same realisation as they had. Out of respect for their feelings, she kept her awareness of what they were thinking down to the utmost minimum.

He finally nodded his consent.

"I don't suppose they have contacts, do they?" he asked uncertainly, plastering a smile on his face. "Don't worry, Daniel, it's not going to backfire on you." She told him, knowing that his main aversion stemmed from bad experience with alien technology.

"What about Teal'c's tattoo?" Jack asked as they headed for the hover cab port and then to the imperial city med centre. Sam shrugged.

"People have stranger." Jack looked surprised for a moment and then shrugged.

"Figures," he muttered as Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

* * *

Daniel walked out of the med room with one last thank you to the doctor there, a childlike cross between a frown and a smile on his face as he stared around distractedly, waving his hand across his face.

"This is…weird," he told them, smiling. "Thanks." Sam waved it off.

"Don't thank me, thank Luke. It's his money. Well, it's the Jedi funds, but…you get the point. C'mon, we've got three hours to get back to the ship, and I know one more place that we need to go.

"Oh, and where's that?" Jack asked curiously.

"You'll see."

This time, she led them to an area of the city-world that was near where their ship was, but several levels lower down. As they travelled they could see the quality of the buildings deteriorate as the quality of the light got worse. Stepping out of one of the Turbo Lifts, they walked onto a street filled with huddled beings, intermixed with arrogant looking smugglers. Most people wore hoods of some sort, or large cloaks that concealed them.

Stopping and turning towards them once more, Sam spoke quietly to them.

"Whatever you do, don't get lost. Stick with Dentralla and I, don't annoy anyone, try not to look so…military and for Sith's sake, don't stare," she told them as their eyes flickered towards a particularly huge being as it strode past in the dank street.

"Try not to look military?" Jack asked incredulously.

"You move like a soldier. These people don't like soldiers. They're smugglers, thieves, bounty hunters…the scum of the universe; they'll kill you for looking at them wrong."

"Ah." Sam saw Jack pause for a moment before he visibly slouched in a throwback to his Black Ops days, loosening up and striking a pose that reminded her forcefully of Han Solo. Apparently, Dentralla saw the resemblance too as she started laughing quietly to herself.

"Daniel, do me a favour and stick to Teal'c. Like superglue."

"Uh…okay."

They eased themselves into he crowd, following the flow of people. Sam felt more at home here than she did in the upper levels, though not as at home as she felt on Yavin, or her ship. This was the kind of place that she had first been introduced to, on Nar Shadaa. This was the kind of place that she had learned to be Sam Carter, resident of this galaxy.

She led them through the streets, and down a side street and to a small, unmarked shop where they bought a few weapons of their own, Sam wanting her own back. After that, she took them to a dingy cantina where they passed the last of their time chatting quietly.

As they stood to leave, Sam's danger sense tingled and she immediately pulled out her blaster, preparing herself for what was sure to come.

"Stop," commanded a voice off to her right. She stopped and turned to see a dark-haired, scarred man step out of the shadows. _Keep going,_ she silently willed the three men, hoping that Dentralla would urge them on. "And you," he commanded, pulling out a second weapon and aiming it at the other group.

"What do you want?" she growled at him.

"Your head," he told her darkly. _Great, a bounty hunter. Just what I needed._

"Yeah, well, I'm kinda attached to it myself."

"Not for long you won't be." He leered, stepping forwards. "Blaster on the floor," he said. "Finger and thumb, nice and slow." Slowly reaching down, she pulled out the blaster, carefully manoeuvring it so that it was pointing at him. He made the fatal mistake of thinking that she needed to use her finger to pull the trigger.

Putting up a Force barrier in front of the others just in case he managed to squeeze off a shot as he died, she carefully tweaked the position of the weapon and pulled the trigger with the Force, dropping the man where he stood. The rest of the cantina went silent for only a brief second before turning back to their drinks and conversations, not caring.

She cast a quick eye over her friends, checking to see that they were okay, which they were, before she dug into the bounty hunter's pockets and pulled out a few credit coins.

Passing them to the barkeeper, she gave him a quick smile. "Sorry 'bout the mess."

The barkeeper nodded and shrugged. "It was his own fault," he replied callously, pocketing the money.

She led an oddly silent SG-1 back to the spaceport, where they collected the dress and the clothes and flew back up to the _Errant Venture_.


	13. Resolution

**Chapter 13 – Resolution**

"Yes, what is it? What do you want?"

Kefnu clenched his jaw, repressing the anger that he felt at Warlord Hetarn's words. The tall, impressive figure belied the personality within, and fear shone in the man's eyes as he realised that Kefnu had locked the keypad, stopping anyone from entering.

"I want power," he told him, his voice taking on a deep resonating quality. "I want control." He walked steadily towards the now less than impressive warlord as he pulled out his hand device. "I want you," he told him as he brought the glowing jewel to bear, paralysing the man.

Within seconds, he had entered his new body, and his eyes glowed for a second before they faltered and flickered and he fell to the floor. He was alive, but his eyes remained open, staring blankly ahead for a few moments before they glowed once more, an odd reddish tinge to effervescent glow.

He stood, eventually, a puzzled expression on his face as he came to the realisation that he was neither Hetarn…or Kefnu…but an amalgamation of both…personality traits, skills mixed to create new person.

He smiled evilly and reached for his belongings before calling in a guard. "This man tried to threaten me. Take him away and dispose of him," he told him, voice natural and smooth. "And send for the captain."

* * *

Corran met Sam at the bottom of the ramp of the _Peacemaker_, greeting him and giving him a huge grin as she handed the dress to him.

"What's with those three?" he asked, looking towards her three friends. Sam frowned.

"I'm not sure. We had a run-in with a bounty hunter just before we left. I think it shocked them a little," she replied uncertainly. Corran nodded thoughtfully for a moment before changing the subject.

"Right, well. Seeing as we don't want word of this Stargate leaking out, I suggest we take those three for a retinal scan for their new IDs."

"Right…this should be interesting," Sam told him, smiling. "Oh, is Cilghal on Yavin at the moment? I want her to take a look at Teal'c."

"Sure, why?" Sam shook her head in reply, indicating that now was not the time.

Once she had explained to them that they needed a background, something they could draw on to keep the 'Gate a secret so that no-one like the Hutts could take it from Telk, they had headed to meet one of Boosters…tenants. He would use retinal scans and details to create their IDs.

"Right, last one," the small, watery-eyed man said, turning to Teal'c. "So that's Teal'c, with an apostrophe?"

"Indeed."

"Age?"

"109."

"No, really, I need your age."

"I am one hundred and nine standard years old," Teal'c told him sombrely. They had worked out their 'standard' ages from their earth ages, finding that they were only slightly different.

"Yeah, and I'm a son of a Hutt," the man replied. "He's older than you," he said, waving a hand at Jack, who smirked.

"Well, he's not _exactly_ human," Daniel told him, levelling his gaze at him.

"Sure, fine, whatever…it's your ID! Species?"

"Jaffa." The man didn't think twice about what species he may be; there were a lot of aliens in the galaxy.

All of them had their home worlds put as Coruscant, covering for each of their accents and mannerisms, respectively.

Jack watched as they completed Teal'c's ID, only half paying attention, as was Daniel. What they had just seen on the planet had thrown them quite a bit.

Sam had just unflinchingly killed the man.

None of her usual trying to talk them out of it, finding another way around it – at least to the extent that she always had done before – she just waited for the moment and shot him. She then took his money to pay for 'the mess' as if it was normal. And she had seemed so at home in that underworld area, as if she belonged there.

He was still in his own little world, thinking about the things that had recently happened as they walked back to their quarters, breaking out of his musings only as he was handed a cup of Caf. He took it with a brief smile, not meeting Sam's eyes.

"What was that, back on the planet…Coruscant, Sam?" Daniel suddenly asked a puzzled and slightly worried look on his face.

"A bounty hunter," she replied shortly, apparently able to sense what they were feeling. "What is it, Daniel?" she asked, with a pained sigh.

"The, the way that you dealt with him. It was so callous, uncaring. It was like you were a completely different person," the archaeologist replied from the sofa, where he sat next to Teal'c. Both Jack and Sam had remained standing, not wanting to sit next to each other, just in case there was a repeat of what happened earlier.

"What, you expect me to care about some guy who just wants to kill me so that he can get a few credits to squander on booze and Twi'lek dancing girls?"

"Hey!" Jack interrupted, suddenly angry at her for getting annoyed at Daniel. "Daniel's right, you were acting like a different person."

"Well, maybe that's because I _am _a different person. I stopped being the person that you knew when Telk put me in a spice factory because I refused to be his little whore. I stopped being that person when, three years later, I was sold to a man who used people as if they were disposable. He knew that I was their only hope to last long enough to get out of there, that there was no help coming any time soon," she bit back angrily. "How _dare_ you judge me and compare me to someone who I haven't been for six years? You don't know what I've been through, you don't know what I've _seen_ and you have the audacity to tell me that I've _changed!_" she asked them incredulously, consciously pushing down her anger, but letting them know that it was there and that they were wrong.

"If that's what you think, then I'll go find people who like _this me,_" she told them, holding out her hand to grab the Jedi robe and calling her comlink to her by the Force. "Goodbye," she told them, slipping the robe on and putting the comlink in the pocket. She brushed past Corran as she exited, walking briskly off, her robe flapping behind her.

Jack's eyes slid across to the thundery face of Corran.

"What did you say to her?" he bit out. They just gaped and shrugged, but Corran apparently gathered the gist of it from them because he sighed, his shoulders slumping as he shook his head.

"Are you _complete_ idiots?" he asked them sadly.

"Well, maybe not complete…but ninety-nine percent," Jack told him, catching the small black cylinder that the short man threw to each of them.

"Comlinks," he told them, explaining how they worked briefly. "Feel free to wander, but don't cause trouble. And Booster says to remind you all that drinks have to be paid for. Try not to rub any of the crew up the wrong way. The only reason they'll think twice before shooting is that they've seen Sam mad."

"Oh. In that case, I think we'll be fine right here, don't you, kids?"

"Indeed."

"Oh, yeah."

Corran shook his head, hiding his amusement.

"Right. We'll send food down."

"Thank you," Daniel said, giving him his best fake smile—the one that was almost real.

"Anything for Sam," he said, letting them know that it was at Sam's behest that they were being trusted, and looked after.

Jack watched him leave, quashing his jealousy and pain, glad that Sam had found a decent man, who obviously cared. He berated himself for being so fickle. He had just all but accused her of being someone he didn't know and yet, here he was getting jealous because she had found herself someone else. He had watched the scene in the clothes shop with the dress with a deeply hidden pain that he was trying to deny all existence of.

"We're a pair of asses, Jack," Daniel told him as the older man flopped onto the sofa.

"I know."

"I mean, she must have been through hell…a slave for years…and we go and throw it back in her face."

Teal'c remained silent as they consigned themselves to having lost their friend.

"It's not as if she's really that different. She's mostly Sam, just some small changes and that kind of thing and-"

"Daniel."

"Jack?"

"Shut up."

* * *

Sam left the quarters oddly calm, briskly walking away, her feet taking her to a place that she knew she would find something therapeutic to do.

There was no denying that she was upset. She'd known that she had changed, and that they would have to accept that, but she'd thought they'd be a little more supportive, a little more accepting.

She arrived at the_ Peacemaker_ to find Dentralla there, already continuing work, repairing the damage that had been caused during the escape from Telk's planet.

Asides from cosmetic damage that added to the dents and carbon scoring that had already been there, there was a leak in the hyperdrive modulator, a few overloads of minor systems, and one blast that had gotten through the shields had made a rather large hole. It was a fluke shot that managed to hit right over the engine array, and her new sub-light engine systems were running at forty percent capacity: something that needed fixing right away, or the next time they had to get anywhere, they would need to walk to get there sooner, rather than later.

"I'm fine, just thought we should get those repairs done." She brushed off Dentralla's concerned whine, and shed her robe, moving to grab a tool kit.

The Wookie had already fixed a few of the smaller systems, but she knew not to mess with the bigger ones, the ones that Sam had upgraded herself and that Dentralla wasn't skilled enough to handle.

Sam immediately went to work on the sub-light engines, using the Force to boost herself as she jumped up to the top of the ship…three or four times her own height. Prying off the damaged hull plates, she started work on it, stripping the unusable parts and replacing them with the new replacements that she carried, concentrating on her work entirely.

"'Tralla, pass me the size two hydrospanner, would you?" she called out, the noise muffled by the innards of the ship.

She was hanging upside down, inside the ship, her knees crooked around the top of the hull to get the best position for the fine manipulative work she was doing.

"Thanks." She took the tiny hydrospanner without looking, sensing through the Force that it was Corran, and not Dentralla that had handed it to her.

Without hurrying the critical work, she finished what she was doing, throwing the hydrospanner back up, knowing that Corran would catch it. Closing the casing on the unit, she tensed the muscles in her abdomen and pulled her torso up, grabbing Corran's hand gratefully as soon as her head was above the hull plating. "Thanks," she said, taking the proffered glass and drinking down the clear water, sighing in relief.

"My pleasure." Corran grimaced as he wiped his now greasy hand on a rag he found lying next to Sam's now discarded jacket.

"Where's Dentralla?" she asked, looking around when she noticed the absence of her friend.

"I sent her to get some food and then some sleep."

"Is it really that late?" Sam frowned, glancing at her chrono. "Huh, I guess it is." She'd been working on _The Peacemaker_ for 5 hours solid, a fact at which her stomach grumbled loudly. Corran raised an eyebrow at her.

"I think the same goes for you," he told her, handing her jacket to her.

"Yes, Mom," she told him, smirking and taking the jacket from him. He pulled a face at her and took a theatrical step backwards.

"Whoa, but not before you take a shower." Sam grimaced. She really didn't want to go back to her quarters, despite the fact that the men would probably be asleep.

"Come on, you can use the 'fresher in my quarters." Relief flooded through her at his words and she smiled her thanks, leaping down to the floor before heading inside the ship to grab a change of clothes…there would be no point in a shower if she was just going to put her sweat-soaked clothes back on.

Corran had just reached the bottom of the ladder by the time she re-appeared. Without telekinesis, he would have probably injured himself jumping down, and he certainly wouldn't have been able to jump up there, so he had to do it the 'normal' way…the way Dentralla and other non-Force sensitive beings did it.

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Corran finally spoke.

"You're angry at them for expecting you to be the same as you were six years ago?"

"They told you?" she asked, surprised.

"Not in so many words…"

"Ah. No, I'm not angry. I was for a few minutes when they first commented on it, but it's more that I'm hurt," she admitted. "I didn't think they'd be that naive, especially not Jack," she told him, the pain evident in her voice as she thought about the things Jack had been through and done. He, of all people should have known that experiences change people—a lot.

"I think they realise that now; they were just shocked to see you different." He comforted her. "If it helps, they looked really miserable earlier, when I took them dinner. Not to mention uncomfortable." Sam let out a half sob, half laugh, smiling a little. "Except that Teal'c guy…he just looked…"

"Stoic?"

"Yes! Does he have any other expressions?"

"Yeah; angry, vengeful, and full-blown laughter; all three of them are very scary." Sam laughed, thinking about the one person who had not seemed surprised at the change in her.

* * *

Shivrall Telk appeared completely calm in the eyes of everyone around him, but inside he was terrified.

At the first meeting he'd had with Imperial Commander Hetarn, the man had seemed a considerably weaker man, using his imposing looks to cover the fact that he was a snivelling, power hungry idiot: exactly what Telk had been looking for when he had sought help from one of the many bickering renegade Imperial Warlords.

Since then, he had turned out to be a much more competent, awe-inspiring man, still using his imposing presence to the fullest.

Standing in the Grand Admiral's quarters on the Star Destroyer he had re-named _Chariot of the Gods,_ he turned his eyes toward his new guest. The lights glinted on his blue-black hair and made his skin seem ever so slightly bluish.

"It has been five days. What do you have to report?" he demanded, his eyes; brown with the merest hint of red seemed to burn through him as he squelched his fear and put on a cocky mask.

"Those Jedi scum went storming in there, tried to take over, but we drove them off. Lost a lot of people though, and we had a visitor through the WHD," he told him nonchalantly.

Telk could have sworn that the other man's eyes actually flashed - not the kind of flashed that they used to describe angry people in Alderaanian novels; the glowing light behind your eyeballs kind of glowing – and his cocky mask slipped at the Imperial's next words.

"The device that you speak of is called a Chappa'ai, not a 'Worm Hole Device' as you so crudely seem to think," he barked angrily, his voice taking on a deeply resonant tone as he lifted his left arm to reveal a small crystal on his palm, secured by a few thin strands of moulded durasteel that snaked around his hand and connected at the back, holding it firmly in place.

The crystal began to glow and all of a sudden he felt as if his head was going to explode as he was brought to his knees by the pain.

Hetarn smiled; seeing his specially adapted version of the Goa'uld hand device take effect on the man in front of him pleased him. It gave him a power that none of the other Imperial Warlords had, and it was so much more efficient and effective than backhanding him, or having the guards do it. It showed that _he_ held the power, and not through mindless others and that gave him an undeniable edge.

"I am tired of your foolish posturing and lies," Hetarn told him, his voice back to normal as the smuggler writhed at his feet. "Yet you are still useful." He finished, breaking off the crystal device and stepping away from the trembling man.

"Who was it that used the Chappa'ai?" he demanded of the other man.

The only sign of shock that he gave at the description of the people who came through the Stargate was a slight pause in his pacing.

* * *

Sam didn't see hide nor hair of the rest of her team - _ex-team_ she corrected herself – until the _Errant Venture_ had dropped out of hyperspace and taken up a synchronous orbit over the Great Temple that was the home of the Jedi, and that suited her fine. At least that was what she kept telling herself.

It was, for the most part true; she didn't think she could have dealt with the hurt she would have felt whenever she caught what they were feeling about her changing, but it didn't change the fact that they were people she still cared about.

She pushed aside her fear as she entered the code for their quarters and strode in, shields put up against their feelings.

"Sam!" Daniel yelled, even as Jack slipped back into past habits, yelling "Carter!" Teal'c merely nodded deeply.

Both Earth men looked deeply guilty.

"Look, were sorry…we just weren't expecting it," Jack told her, shrugging sheepishly.

Sam felt relief flood through her as she allowed herself to feel them through the Force, and felt their sincerity and their acceptance of her.

"It's not a problem…I knew you'd realise sometime…"

"And yet it still hurt you more than you are willing to let on," Teal'c finished for her.

"Yeah," she said, surprised. "How did you know that?" Teal'c didn't reply, instead asking a question of his own.

"For what reason did you come here…have we arrived at our destination?" Sam saw the slight indication of a smile on the edge of the Jaffa's lips and she couldn't resist a smile of her own; trust this particular Jaffa to deflect a question so easily.

"Uh, yeah…I just came to get you to take you dirt side," she told them, gesturing over her shoulder.

"Well then, let's grab our gear, kids." Five minutes later, they were heading back towards the_ Peacemaker_, the comfortable silence of before replaced with a tense one, all four of them more than aware that they needed to adjust to each other before they could return to that.

"Sam," Jack found that her given name fell off his lips much more easily now that he had a way to differentiate between the old Major Carter, and the new, slightly different Sam Carter. "What about Sorrell?" She gave him a brief smile.

"He'll be sent down on one of the transports so that we can give him a proper send off," she told him, knowing that it would give them some closure, let them lay the inexperienced young Lieutenant to rest within their own minds, though they would always feel for his loss. Jack nodded his thanks as they continued into the ship, greeting Dentralla in the cockpit, still completely clueless as to what the tall Wookie was saying.

"How far into the start-up sequence are we?" Dentralla barked a reply as she continued to flick switches, running an extra diagnostic of the repairs, just in case. "No problems with the repairs?"

"Repairs?" Jack asked incredulously

"You didn't honestly think we managed to take all those hits on the way up from the surface without suffering a little damage did you, Jack?" Daniel asked, strapping himself in.

"We took hits?" Jack asked in bewilderment.

"I believe O'Neill was too engaged in making use of the weapons to notice," Teal'c told them with a Jaffa smirk. Jack grinned.

"Hell yeah…_that _was what I call a honking Space Gun!" he crowed childishly.

"Uh, no…the Death Star was a 'honking space gun'," Sam told them with a slightly grim expression, her pilot gloves already in place as her hands flew over the controls.

"Death Star? Do you have any idea how cliché that sounds?" Jack asked incredulously, all the time watching what she was doing, the pilot part of his mind in overdrive.

"As cliché as Luke blowing it seconds before it fired and wiped out Yavin 4 and the Rebel base that was on it."

"The rebels who now run the New Republic?" Daniel asked, trying to get his head round the complex changes that had happened in this galaxy over the last hundred years.

"The very same."

"SamCarter, how big was this Death Star? Not even a standard Goa'uld mothership could take out an entire planet." Teal'c told her, frowning slightly and leaving any mention of Anubis's decimated ship, of which there had been none before, and none since. Sam paused for a moment, concentrating on guiding the ship out of the Star Destroyer's docking bay.

"I'm not entirely sure, but it was mistaken for a moon from a distance."

"Oh," Daniel said, as Jack gave an awed whistle.

"Well, there you go, kids…this is where the Jedi call home. The gas giant is Yavin, this particular moon is Yavin 4. As we come into land, you can see debris from the first Death Star, where it still floats 21 years after its destruction," She told them, giving a bad impression of a tour guide as she flew into the atmosphere.

"First? Just how many were there?" Dentralla barked a reply, which Sam translated as 'only two, thank the Force'.

"I'll show you some holos when we get to the temple." They remained silent as Sam took them down through the clouds, emerging over the canopy of the trees to the awesome sight of the giant stone ziggurat, sending Daniel into an ecstatic rant about cultures of some sort. Dentralla barked a comment at her and she smiled.

"Does he ever shut up? Only when he's dead, or asleep," she teased, catching SG-1's attention, as Jack smirked at Sam's comment. Dentralla whined another question at her. "Oh, more times than I can remember. How many times have you died since you descended, Daniel?"

"Three," Teal'c supplied for her.

"Only three?" Sam asked in mock surprise, hiding the guilt and fear that tugged at her at the idea of her friend dieing. Again.

Dentralla roared a comment, obviously regretting asking.

They landed in the area cleared in front of the temple, half an hour behind the supply ship with the other Jedi onboard and consequently were met as they emerged from the ramp.

Sam had barely gotten a few feet from the ship when a small, four limbed, dark-haired blur launched itself at Sam.

"Whoa, Valin! God, you've grown!" she exclaimed, a huge grin spreading across her face as she lifted the grinning boy up, returning his hug as he wrapped his arms around her neck.

"I'm glad you're back, you've been gone for so long and Daddy said he didn't know when you were going to come back, but now you're back, so Daddy will be happy, and he'll stop worrying so much, and play with me more, and Grandpa Booster's here too, so he can come play with me!" The small boy's rushed dialogue finally ran to a finish as he leaned back a little to look Sam directly in the eyes as she carried him, shortly followed by SG-1 and Dentralla.

"You aren't gonna run off this time, are you?" he asked her very seriously.

"Nope. And you know what's even better?" The boy's eyes grew wider at the idea of there being anything better.

"No."

"I found some of my friends, too," she told him, smiling to the others as they reached the group, R2 warbling and twittering between Luke and Mara, and Corran standing behind them.

"Valin, this is Daniel, Jack, and Teal'c," she introduced them to the three in turn, and he gave them a contemplative look before twisting back to look at Sam.

"I thought Daddy and Mummy and Luke and Mara and all the other Jedi were your friends?" he asked her confusedly. If she'd been paying attention, she would have noticed that Jack had tensed, he, Daniel, and Teal'c obviously thinking that the boy was Sam's son…he looked to be under 7…but they relaxed minutely when they came to the conclusion that he was probably Corran's son from another relationship, and Sam had adopted him.

"Oh they are!" she told the boy firmly. "But these people are my friends, too…old friends from my home," she told him, flashing Mirax as smile as she joined the group. The boy contemplated this for a few seconds before wriggling to be put down and running across to Mirax and quickly relaying the news to her.

"Oh, is that so?" Mirax asked him with a smile and a raised eyebrow. "Well then, you'll just have to introduce me." Valin seemed delighted at this, and even Jack could not help but smile, despite his more than slightly melancholy feelings towards the idea of Sam having a sort-of-son.

"This is Daniel, this is Jack, and this is Teal'c," he told her very seriously. "This is Mummy," he added, for their benefit.

"Well, hello, Mummy." Jack smirked, gaining a rolling of Sam's eyes.

"Guys, this is Mirax Terrik-Horn, Corran's wife."

One eyebrow went up, and two jaws went down. Sam looked at them in confusion, reaching out with the Force to see what was wrong. When she realised what it was, she burst out laughing, much to the consternation of the Skywalkers and the Horns.

"They…They…" She managed to get only that far before her giggling overtook her. Daniel and Jack looked flustered and embarrassed. Jack glared at Sam.

"I thought I said no giggling," he growled at her, annoyed at being laughed at. Sam took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

"They thought Corran and I were together," she finally managed to gasp. Mara snorted in amusement even as Luke stifled his own laughter, maintaining a calm expression, though his amusement showed in his eyes.

Dentralla's raucous Urf-Urf laugh covered the sound of Corran and Mirax's quiet giggles.

"But you are!" Valin protested in confusion. "Daddy is Auntie Sam's Master, and Sam is Daddy's apprentice."

"No, Valin Honey, they thought Sam and Daddy were dating," Mirax gently corrected him, causing a disgusted expression to flit across his face.

"You're not are you?" he asked, worried.

"NO! No, that would be like me dating Daniel, or Teal'c…uh, it would be like Master Luke dating Princess Leia."

"But they're brother and sister; you're not Daddy's sister though."

"No, but she's like a sister, sort of an adopted sister," Corran explained for his son, and understanding dawned.

"Like Iella!"

"That's right, just like Iella."

"So, now that we have that sorted, how about we get you settled into your quarters and get some food? Kam tells me Tionne has a new song to share with us."

"Sure. That would be nice, thanks," Jack told them, recovering from his embarrassment and feeling a good deal happier than he had been as they headed off towards the temple, leaving Sam to speak to Corran and Mirax.

"I'll take care of Valin for the afternoon, shall I?" Sam asked Corran and Mirax, knowing that they would want to…reacquaint themselves without interruptions.

"Thanks, Sam," Mirax said, with a warm smile, giving her a hug. "It's good to have you back…don't run off like that again!" she admonished the blonde lightly.

"Thanks, and it's not a problem," she told the couple before heading off after her friends, chatting with Valin as she went.


	14. Companionship

**Chapter 14 – Companionship **

Sam looked down at Valin, giving the boy to whom she was an honorary Aunt a big grin, which he returned happily. Within moments they had caught up to Luke, Mara and the guys as they trooped through the corridors of the giant ziggurat, Sam feeling completely at home in the ancient structure.

"The temples were built by an extinct race – the Massassi – at the instruction of Exar Kun, a powerful Dark Lord of the Sith," she heard Luke telling them, feeling the touch of sadness in his mind at the reminder of the people that had been lost because of Kun.

"What _is _a Sith? You keep talking about them but…" Jack trailed off and shrugged.

"Well, 'sith', in English around the time of Queen Elizabeth the First meant 'since'; I don't know if that has any relation or not…" Daniel commented, his linguist's mind going into overdrive.

"Probably not," Sam told him, still holding Valin's hand as they walked along. "Humans have inhabited this galaxy for millennia. If there wasn't the evidence on Earth to show that we evolved there, and a lack of evidence to show human evolution here I'd say that we were moved from this galaxy to ours."

"Is it not possible that the humans of this galaxy were transplanted from the race of which the girl who was frozen near the Antarctic Stargate-"

"But they didn't evolve any further than the stage they are at now?" Sam finished for him. "That's pretty much what I figured."

"The one that gave us all the disease that…" Jack asked, internally flinching at the memory of his cure for that, and what it led to.

"…Yeah." Sam told him, a pang of guilt stabbing at her. Luke and Mara exchanged a confused look, silently communing with each other, Dentralla keeping silent, knowing that if it was important Sam would tell her.

"What?" Daniel asked, not catching on.

"Oh, you were dead at the time." Jack told him dismissively.

"Dead?" Mara asked, her eyebrows creeping into her hairline.

"Ascended," Daniel corrected, before briefly explaining what had happened.

"That's why you always made bad jokes about death 'not being all its cracked up to be'," Luke commented, nodding as several comments he had thought strange at the time clicked into place.

"Sounds like you're almost as good as farm boy here at getting into trouble."

"Farm boy?" Jack echoed with amusement, even as Sam commented.

"Oh, you have no idea. Whatever you do, don't let them and Luke go _anywhere_ together." Sam gave a mock shudder even as Daniel swatted her arm, only to find that she had seen in coming through the Force and caught it while it was still inches away from her.

Valin chose that moment to run ahead. He had recognised where they were going and, bored of the conversation, decided to run ahead the last few feet to one of the doors in the corridor, key the panel to open it and let himself in.

"These used to be the old fighter pilot quarters when it was a rebel base," Luke explained as he moved aside to let Sam into her quarters first. She stepped in to find it exactly how she had left it, only with a few extra layers of dust. She called Valin out and stepped back into the corridor to where Luke was keying open the room opposite.

"It may take a bit of cleaning; they haven't been used in 20-odd years, but you can take the spare bunks out, make a little more room, rearrange as you like," the Jedi master told them as Jack inspected the room, silently claiming it as his.

They were also shown to the rooms next to Sam and Jack's, which Daniel and Teal'c claimed, respectively.

Valin tugged impatiently on Sam's sleeve, "Sa-am, I'm hungry," he whined.

"Alright, we'll go eat in a few minutes, I promise," she murmured to them as Luke finished explaining a few things to the guys.

A short while later and they entered the Mess Hall, several of the other students welcoming Sam back with cheery smiles and greeting her friends warmly.

Moving over to one of the food synthesisers, Valin rushing ahead while her three friends trailed behind, drinking in the sights of the world that they had been thrust into.

Dentralla moved to another area of the 'kitchen' area, heading for the cold store that housed the raw meat. When they sat down at one of the tables, Jack gave the bowl of thick stew a baleful look and prodded it with his two-pronged 'fork' as the others dug in with gusto, Teal'c and Daniel being a little more careful than Sam and Valin.

"What is it?" he asked as a piece of what he hoped was vegetable (it was purple) bobbed to the surface."

"Gornt stew. Simple, nothing special but it doesn't taste bad," Sam told him between mouthfuls, tearing off a piece of bread simultaneously.

"Gornt?"

"You know, Jack, you should just try it, it's not all that bad; we've had worse."

"If we'd come at a normal meal time then someone would have done a decent meal, but we're a bit early for lunch."

"But…Gornt?" he asked again, waving his fork for emphasis.

"It's like beef." Sam suddenly grinned wickedly as she saw Dentralla strolling over. "Of course, you could always share Dentralla's," she told him. The Wookie let out a sharp growl that very clearly meant 'get your own' as Jack looked over at her plate.

"Uh…you know what…I think I'll just eat this," he said, seeing the raw meat. "At least I know that this is dead." Dentralla urfed a laugh at him before digging happily into her meal. They ate in silence for a few moments before Valin piped up, his bowl clear.

"Sam can I-"

"Sure, as long as you show Teal'c how to get some more." Valin clambered off the bench and very carefully put his bowl in the washer unit before darting back and grabbing Teal'c hand to drag him over to the synth units and patiently describing to him how to work them as he got some pudding for himself.

"Can everyone here do that? The telepathic bit?" Daniel asked her, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"First, it's not telepathic. We can sense emotions, feelings, intents and the like, but not actual thoughts. But yes, most of them can, to varying degrees." She could see both Jack and Daniel squirm at the idea and bit back a smile. "They don't though, most of the time. Only a vague sense of whether you're happy, sad, tired…hungry; like if we were reading body language, but more accurate."

"Oh."

Valin and Teal'c walked back over, Teal'c bowing his head deeply as he spoke.

"Thank you for your assistance, Valin," he told the small boy, who delightedly returned the bow of the head before climbing up on the bench again.

Sam remained silent as she finished off her meal, her mind whirring as she thought. She wanted to ask them about the others back on Earth and her Dad, but she was afraid of what the answer would be.

"…Earth to Sam? Come in Sam?"

"What?" She blinked, looking up at Jack, who had been waving a hand in front of her face and calling her.

"I said penny for your thoughts?"

"Oh, I was just thinking about…people…"

"Dad?" he asked, knowing that she would ask eventually.

Sam nodded, "And Cassie and Janet and Hammond…"

"Well, Dad's fine, last we heard which was…oh a few weeks ago. George…tried to retire but couldn't rest easy knowing that there was someone else running the SGC. Cass is currently following in her mother's footsteps and Janet…" Jack smirked and his eyes flickered towards Daniel for a brief second. "Janet snagged herself a husband." Sam was suddenly torn between elation at knowing her friends were okay, and doing well and grief that she had missed so much.

"She did? Who? Anyone I kn- DANIEL!" she cut herself off, suddenly realising why Jack was smirking and Daniel had a little grin playing at the edges of his mouth. Daniel broke into a grin and nodded sheepishly.

"Yeah…she's now Doctor Lieutenant Colonel Janet Fraser-Jackson."

"Well…congratulations!" Sam grinned, but it didn't quite hide the sadness that tinged her eyes. They continued to chat for a while as Teal'c and Dentralla finished their huge helpings of food, Jack entertaining the increasingly fidgety Valin.

"Sam?" Sam turned at the small, high voice that suddenly called her name from halfway across the large room.

"Tekli!" she greeted the small, large-eared Chadra-fan with a smile, inviting her to sit with them. When the diminutive healer reached them, though, she launched into a tirade at her.

"Why did you go running off like that? You had us all worrying about you! I didn't know if you had caught the virus on that planet and gone primitive, and flying your ship into a black hole or something," Tekli berated her.

"I'm sorry, Tekli, but I had something I had to do." Sam gave her an even stare, for a moment before turning and gesturing each of her friends in turn. "This is Daniel Jackson, Jack O'Neill and Teal'c. I followed the outbreaks of the virus back and found them at Telk's base."

"These are the friends that you thought you would never see again," Tekli stated in reply. "I am Tekli," She greeted them. A chorus of 'hello's followed. "If you will excuse me, I need to eat before I return to train with Master Cilghal. It is good to see you again, Sam."

"You too, Tekli. We'll probably be in the med centre later." Sam sensed, more than heard Jack's muttered 'for crying out loud'.

"Good-bye."

* * *

"Tell me, Sam, why exactly do we have to do this?"

"Firstly, because you _really_ don't want to get something like the Mandalorian 'flu, or any of the other immunisable diseases in the galaxy; secondly, because unless I'm much mistaken, Teal'c can only have a small amount of Tretonin with him, and we don't know how long you're going to be here."

"Do you have an alternate treatment to Tretonin?" Teal'c asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I don't know; that's why we're here to see Cilghal." The three men turned to look curiously at Cilghal when the Mon Calamari entered the room and greeted Sam.

They had spent several hours working on taking the spare bunks out of the rooms and getting them as comfortable as possible, with Valin helping as much as he could, and being entertained by Jack when they needed him out of the way before he had run off to his own room and his parents.

Cilghal took one look around the packed room and promptly ordered everyone bar Sam and Teal'c out of the room, suggesting that they wait in the medical lounge, which they reluctantly agreed to before she started work on carrying out various tests.

"So Teal'c has no immune system…it is being maintained by a drug called Tretonin, of which you have very little," Cilghal re-affirmed, looking at the charts from the tests she had just run, having given them the all-in-one hypo spray immunisation drug.

"That is correct," Teal'c told her sombrely. Sam flicked a brief smile at him as Cilghal continued to read the charts, analysing the information on the Datapad minutely.

"How did you end up with this condition?" she then asked, lifting her salmon-pink head to regard him carefully. Teal'c's eyes flicked almost imperceptibly towards Sam, who gave an equally discreet nod of her head.

"When I was young, I underwent a ritual known to my people as Primta. I was given the ability to carry an infant parasite known as a Goa'uld within me in exchange for health and long life. It is the means by which the Goa'uld enslave my people." Cilghal blinked her large eyes in shock for a moment before swivelling her right eye to look at Sam.

"When I said old friends…they're my team, from my home planet." Sam paused, letting that little bit of information sink in for a moment. As ever, the Jedi ambassador cum healer took it all in her stride. "From another Galaxy." Sam's added comment, however, wasn't quite as easy to believe, and Cilghal stretched out with her senses to detect whether or not Sam was playing some kind of joke on her; another example of the woman's often obscure sense of humour.

Sam, for once, did not immediately slam her mental guards into place, instead letting the other into her mind to see that she was not lying, before she gave her a brief explanation.

"This explains a great many things," Cilghal said once Sam had finished her explanation, Teal'c remaining silent the entire time. "You were once taken over by one of these parasites?"

"Kind of – I was taken over by a Tok'ra who was trying to escape an assassin. When Jolinar – the Tok'ra – died to save me, she left a few souvenirs such as-"

"The protein marker and the element in your blood."

"Yes; Naquada." Sam shrugged, "I've sometimes wondered about whether the Naquada in my blood could be related to my strength in the Force…it would explain part of how the Goa'uld control many of their devices."

"It could be. Is this also what left you unable t-"

"So…back to Teal'c," she cut Cilghal off sharply, obviously wanting to change the subject. Teal'c raised an eyebrow at her odd behaviour, but knew better than to ask.

"Of course. I will have to check with experts and do some research, but I'm afraid that I do not know of any cure for this. It is not a common enough ailment for there to have been much research or publicity into any cures. If nothing comes up then I will try a healing trance, but I don't know. How much…tretonin? Do you have left?" Cilghal ran a hand over her smooth scalp in a gesture Sam had long ago recognised as being a sign of frustration, most probably at being unable to help.

"I have enough with me for three weeks…four if I limit the dose that I take."

"I will do my best. I will need to run more tests, though, I am afraid, not for another couple of days."

"Thanks Cilghal." Those simple words conveyed Sam's gratitude to the somewhat empathic water-loving alien as they left, and not only for her help in looking for a cure for Teal'c.

* * *

Word spread through _Chariot of the Gods_ like wildfire and Lord Hetarn – as he had taken to being called – had garnered a healthy respect from the men that crewed his fleet.

Two in particular were the once-rebellious Shivral Telk, and the once dubious Captain Joshar. Both stood in front of him now, waiting to find out why he had called them to his quarters.

Joshar stood stiffly 'at ease'; his hands clasped behind his back and feet shoulders width apart, chin up, staring unseeingly ahead. Telk, on the other hand, was managing a sloppy rendition of the captain's posture, made all the more difficult by the tendency to flinch and quiver whenever he saw or heard Hetarn move.

"Captain Joshar," he began, stopping his idle pacing to stand in front of the ship's captain. "I want a squad of your best troops, heavily armed for a planet side mission. Standard Forest Battle Armour, including speeder bikes, two AT-ST walkers, anti-grav transport pad. You will need to take engineering specialists with you, the exact specifications are all stored on this datachip, along with the information on what it is that you will be retrieving." The smallest flicker of surprise was all that passed across the captain's face.

"Yes, sir. When will this be needed by?"

"How long do you think you will need?" Joshar could not control his face this time, and the surprise was clearly visible. Imperial Commanders didn't ask their subordinates how much time they needed, or advice…they commanded arrogantly. Hetarn was no different. Used to be no different, Joshar corrected himself, thinking of the man who had risen only as far as he had because of his skills as a tactician.

"I'm not sure, sir. Two days, three at most. I can give you more accurate estimates after I've looked the data over, and conferred with the engineers."

"Very well. Dismissed."

"Sir." Joshar saluted, about-turned and marched crisply off, his fearful respect for Hetarn transforming into the true respect of a subordinate to a man he knows to be superior in more than just rank.

Hetarn waited until the door had slid shut before addressing the wreck that was Telk.

"Now, we must address the issue of the pitiful humans that escaped after coming through your Chappa'ai. You have the security footage?"

"Y-yes, my Lord," he stammered, holding them out to Hetarn. Hetarn waved him over to a console, ordering him to display the holo's.

"Yes, it was as I thought. _SG-1,"_ he sneered. "They will attempt to return home, of course, and for that, they will need the Chappa'ai," he mused aloud. "They know that my forces are far superior to that of the pitiful Jedi that they have taken refuge with." He stalked over to a console and keyed the holo-units that could give him a full view of the bridge and the command data, bringing up a large representation of the Galaxy. He walked over to a small, pulsing red shrouded sphere and peered at it for a moment.

He smiled a twisted, humourless expression that looked out of place on his face.

"Tell me, if you are the Jedi, and you discover something of great importance, such as the Chappa'ai, where would you go for support, and backing for an assault to gain control of it?"

"I, I don't know, my Lord."

"I didn't expect you to. I want the best bounty hunter in this Galaxy to take these people out," he demanded, moving to the planet that he had keyed up. "He will know nothing of why he is killing them, only that he will be paid well.

"Do not fail this, Telk," he told him, handing the man a Datachip and dismissing him with a wave of his arm. He did not need to threaten him; he had already experienced Hetarn's displeasure once.

Once Telk was gone, Hetarn summoned his head of intelligence.

* * *

Jack awoke from his light slumber slowly, not entirely sure of what it was that had disturbed his sleep. There was no urging pressure on his bladder, no insistent beeping from the small black comm unit on his bedside unit…nothing. Now fully awake, he knew that there was little to no chance of him getting back to sleep that night. It could have been a result of the slightly longer 28-hour days on this planet, he thought as he rolled over to lie on his back, staring unseeingly at the dark ceiling above him, but he knew that was not it. It was far more likely his own worries about getting back to Earth, or the lack of finding any cure or treatment for Teal'c so far. Feeling suddenly claustrophobic in the large room, he rolled off the bunk and pulled on trousers, T-shirt, shirt, jacket, and boots before hitting the door release and making his way outside.

Glancing only once at the closed, dark door opposite his, he found his thoughts turning to the recently rediscovered member of his team as his feet trod their own path through the ancient, empty corridors of the ziggurat.

Sam had been unusually quiet over the last few days, judging, at least, by her behaviour and manner of the first few days after their arrival in this galaxy. She had seemed somewhat introspective, thoughtful, and melancholy. Jack's suspicions that something was not right with her had been confirmed the evening before when a tall, mildly angry tower of fur had planted itself in front of Jack, demanding to know what they had done to upset Sam this time. Well, it had taken several repetitions and the help of a student who understood Shyrriwook to discover what Dentralla was growling about, but he'd managed it eventually.

Jack looked up, surprised to find himself standing on the large, flat expanse of the great temple's top, but even more so, he was surprised to see a lonely figure stood with her back to him, arms crossed and looking out over the forest canopy.

"Sam?" he asked, walking towards her.

"Hello, Jack." She didn't turn around as she replied, and he came to stand beside her, looking out across the dark forest with her.

"And here I thought that it was just us old men that couldn't sleep at night."

"Old men and overactive scientists." Sam had mused briefly, when she first realised that Jack was subconsciously following her up here, whether it had been such a good idea to teach him to use that minute potential he had to sense things…as a kind of an extension of his black ops awareness skills. She knew, however, that it had been…not least because it stopped him bugging her for awhile when he was bored.

With Teal'c with Cilghal, and Daniel absorbing the history of another galaxy into his collection and learning from Tionne, Jack had been left at a loose end. So, naturally, he'd decided to 'bug his favourite super-being' until she had been forced to attend several meetings with the Jedi. She had finished with most of the tedious debriefing sessions now, though, and knew of the perfect way to entertain Jack, as well as giving him something useful to which he could apply the intelligence that she knew he had locked away in his head.

"Uh…demi-cred for your thoughts?" he asked quietly, showing that he had already picked up on some of the local lingo.

Sam snorted and told him, "They're not worth that much."

"Come on, Sam, even I can see that something is bugging you."

"I'm _fine._"

"And I'm the almighty Lord Rhode of Dhendron."

"Its just…I'd accepted the fact that the one thing I wanted more than anything else was to go home, and that it was never going to happen, and now you're all here, and there's a chance that I could go home.

"I'd accepted that, but now there's a hope that I might see my Dad and Janet and Cassie and Mark and my niece and nephew again; to go _home._" Sam could sense Jack's happiness at that idea; she could almost reach out and feel his anticipation at showing them who they'd found lurking in another galaxy and it made what she felt so much harder.

"But?…I'm sensing a but here," Jack commented after a moment's tense silence. Sam finally turned to face him, her eyes glittering with reflected starlight and full of unshed tears.

"But…this is my home now."

"Ah."

"I gave up that life, I moved on when I was left here and I made a new life for myself. I can't just abandon these people now as much as I could never have just abandoned you back then."

"So, what, just because you _moved on_ we don't count any more?" he bit back harshly. "Dad, Cass, none of them matter any more?"

"Of course they do! And I want to see them, I really do, but I can't just abandon who I've become. I'm a different person now…do you really think I'd fit in back on Earth? God…I get nervous going into the 'fresher without a weapon, how do you think I'd handle walking around back on Earth, trying to have a normal life?" The trace of tears had vanished now, replaced by an iron emptiness.

Jack clenched his teeth, the muscles of his jaw contracting visibly and he turned his gaze out to the dark forest. He could see her point, could understand where she was coming from. He had done the same thing when he was stuck on Edora, but the difference being that Sam had had 6 years to reinforce that. He started to try to explain his understanding to her but she cut him off with a nod, showing that she knew what he meant, after he stumbled over the words. They lapsed into silence once again, the softness returning to Sam's face.

"Y'know I was angry at all of you for years without even realising it. It's only recently that I've been able to come to realise that and deal with it. Apparently my subconscious mind thought that you should have saved me, or come for me, or something, but you never did."

"I'm sorry."

"I'd worked my ass off to get you back from a million and one places and, even when I was told it was impossible, I'd found a way to do it." Her eyes were glittering once again. Apparently, she hadn't dealt with those feelings as thoroughly as she'd thought.

She looked up into his shadowed face, arms still folded across her chest and told him, "But _you_ never did."

Jack stared at her a moment, guilt and pain ripping through him at the sight of her so stricken and hurt, the pain a gaping wound held open by years of bitterness and anger. Still the tears did not fall.

He suddenly took a half pace forwards, hands gently grasping either side of her face as he tilted it towards him and kissed her, pouring all of his feelings since she had been taken into it.

Surprised by the suddenness of the kiss, Sam did not react except to let her arms drop to her sides. All of a sudden, she was filled with a torrent of feelings and impressions…the pain of a blaster bolt to the arm, agony, guilt, self-loathing, anger, the pain of knuckles split on a concrete wall, fatigue, worry, the oblivion of an alcoholic pit, love for her, for Daniel, for Teal'c, Cassie…everyone who mattered. There was more information there than she could comprehend, and the list went on.

Jerking back to reality, Sam lifted her hands and pushed him away, stumbling back away from him, a shocked look on her face. Jack looked a little surprised too, and not at her rejection of him.

"I…sorry, I shouldn't…" They both belatedly realised that the tears had finally fallen, streaming silently down her face.

At this realisation, she gave an almighty sob and slumped to her knees, finally able to let go of her anger, of the darkness that tried to clutch at her heart and claim her soul.

"Oh, god…" was all Jack muttered as he darted forwards to catch her and envelope her in a warm, comforting hug.

After what seemed like an age, Sam lifted her face and Jack smoothed her hair back from her face.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you," he told her softly, puzzled when she gave a soft chuckle.

"You didn't, not really," she explained what the Force vision had shown her and his eyes widened, tinged with embarrassment at the realisation that she had – in a way – seen him at his weakest.

Keeping her eyes locked with his, Sam broached the other side of what had just happened, resolve evident in her face.

"I can't do this, not now," she told him, knowing that he understood what she meant by 'this'. Jack nodded, not trusting his voice as all of his thoughts of the first few days, when he mistakenly believed that she was with Corran returned full-force and he started to tell himself that she'd never returned his feelings.

Sam resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she sensed that particular train of thought getting up to speed and de-railed it before it could really get going. "Jack, I know that I used to love you, god knows I tried not to, but I'm a different person now. I have to get to know you again, to know that it's me that feels this, it's not just an echo of the person I used to be." She had an odd sense of déjà vu as she said this, feeling the echoes in her situation with Martouf and Jolinar. "I don't even know if _you'll_ like me any more," she told him, 90 jokingly.

"I know," he told her, understanding the emotions she was broadcasting more than the words. Jack may not have had anything more than a minute skill and 10 minutes worth of lessons on reading people through the Force, but he had over 5 decades of reading body language. He gave her a wry grin, "Its nice to dream, though."

"Humph," she snorted, returning her gaze out to the forest and the slightly pinkening horizon. "Even six years ago, we would still have had to get to know each other better, outside of the SGC. It's only in holo-drama's that the man and woman can just realise their love for each other and jump straight into bed together."

"Right. Bad holo-drama's and any man's fantasy." Good old sarcasm, great for any uncomfortable, intense emotional conversation.

"Who says it's only the men?"

Jack was torn between laughing and letting his jaw drop to the floor, settling instead for smirking to himself.

Stretching languidly, Sam squinted at the horizon for a moment before gracefully crossing her legs underneath her and sitting on the cold stone of the temple, patting the floor beside her. He gave a quizzical look as he plonked himself down, knees clicked noisily.

"You'll see," was her cryptic reply. Drawing his knees up, legs crossed at the ankle and arms wrapped around them, he settled himself and fell into silent contemplation of their recent talk.

It wasn't long until his patience was rewarded.

A spectacular array of colours crackled and sparked through the atmosphere, dancing across the sky as light was refracted through ice droplets in the air.

It was only then that he realised that he was cold, the enormous stones of the temple having given off the last of their retained heat before the sky was alight with a spectacle that he could only liken to the Aurora Borealis.


	15. Flight

**Chapter 15 – Flight**

"Enjoying the view, I see." Both Sam and Jack were surprised by the sudden voice behind them as it broke through their silent musings.

"'Morning, Corran," Sam greeted without turning around, watching the last of the colours fade from the sky.

"Is there some kind of tradition around here that everyone wakes up at some ungodly hour of the morning to stand in the cold?" Jack quipped; his eyes reflected his pleasure at being out there nonetheless.

"No, I was about to go for a run, you coming, Sam?" Sam mulled it over for a minute before nodding.

"Sure, why not. Jack?"

"An old man like me, trying to keep up with you two young, fit super-beings? I think not."

"Old?" Corran asked, raising an eyebrow. Sure his hair was mostly grey but…old?

"Fifty-seven."

"Pushing sixty and still in the field?" Jack raised an eyebrow at his terminology.

"Corran's ex-CorSec, he's had a military kind of background."

"Right…did someone tell me that before? I can't remember."

"Probably."

"C'mon Jack, we're gonna be taking it easy anyway, I haven't been able to keep as fit over the last nine months."

"But…all those trees."

Sam grinned. "They won't bite, honest."

Jack narrowed his eyes at her. "What about the things _in_ the trees?"

"Oh, you'll be fine. I'll protect you."

"Hey! I'm not a kid, you know," he told her, sticking his bottom lip out and crossing his arms in a mock-sulk.

"Sure you aren't. If you don't go for a run, you won't get your surprise later."

"Surprise? I'll be ready in ten," he told her, grinning.

Sam looked to the bemused Corran for confirmation, despite the fact that it had been he who had suggested it to her, through the Force.

Curious about the people who meant so much to his apprentice, he had already spoken to Daniel and Teal'c, but had been able to get little out of them other than that they positively adored Sam and a brief idea of their characters. He supposed it was his past in CorSec that made him automatically want to check people out, but he also knew that he was curious about the past that Sam never spoke of. He stood in silent contemplation at the foot of the temple for a few minutes before they both re-appeared, without the extra layers.

As always, Sam had her blaster strapped to her thigh, Lightsabers in their special holsters, and didn't miss the fact that Jack had his too. It seemed that they were rarely without weapons, very different to Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c.

They quickly warmed up and within a few moments, had set off, taking the shorter route and at a steady pace, mindful of Sam being out of practice, and Jack not having the same level of stamina.

Ten minutes into the run, he realised that he would be able to pick the pace up a little and did so, commenting to Jack, "Not bad for an 'old man'."

"Oh, you know, lots of exercise, a good diet-" Sam snorted, knowing that he tended to live on takeaways when not on the base.

"Okay, so Doc Frasier says that the sarcophagi have possibly added about another twenty years to my life expectancy, provided I don't get shot first." Sam frowned.

"I didn't think you'd been in them that much."

"I hadn't."

"You died? Again?"

"And again, and again, and again…" he told her, slightly breathlessly, bitter pain evident in his voice.

"Sarcophagi? Dying? Again?" Corran asked, shocked, and confused.

"It's a Goa'uld device that can heal almost anything, and bring people back from the dead."

"Wow."

"Yeah, but it's addictive, and it…corrupts you," Jack corrected him, a hard edge to his voice. He was becoming increasingly breathless, while Sam and Corran seemed to be relatively fine.

"Oh, sorry," was the only, weak reply that Corran could give.

"So, how many times have you saved the world now, then?" Sam asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Oh, a couple more. You'll have to ask Teal'c for the exact number…Oh For Crying Out Loud!" He cut himself off as they reached a part of the path with a hulking great tree-trunk across it. He was left standing there as Sam effortlessly jumped over it, using the Force to propel herself over.

"Welcome to the world of those without telekinesis," Corran told him with a smirk as he started to climb over the trunk, using the knots and crevasses for hand and footholds.

When they reached the other side, they found Sam stood patiently, a grin smeared across her face.

"What took you so long?" Both men glared good-naturedly at her.

"Y'know, you might want to be careful; I could always tell them about that drink on P3X-959. The one that made you take off-"

"Alright! I get the point." She glared at him as he jogged past her, a smug smile on his face.

"Or there was the Shavadai dress, the plants, what the touched virus made you do, P7Y-490, or-" His smug commentary was cut off as she caught up to him and gently pushed him sideways, right into a ventaal bush. He reappeared a few seconds later, scowling and scratching at himself.

"Hey!" Sam carried on, laughing at his indignant exclamation as Corran pulled up beside him.

"You know, you're gonna have to tell me about those when she's not looking. Force knows Iella and Mirax have given her enough dirt on me to last a lifetime." Jack smiled wickedly.

"Just ask her where her mole is," he said as he scratched absently at his torso. Corran hid a grin as they started off after her, knowing that by the time they got back to the temple, Jack would be willing to tell him everything.

* * *

"So, why did you want me to meet you back here?" Jack called across to Sam as he entered what he took to be some sort of hangar. He had been going mad, scratching at his body where the plant Sam had pushing him into had left him with an infuriating itch that had taken half an hour in the 'fresher to finally wash away. _'So much for the trees not biting'._

"Because I have something to show you," was her reply, accompanied by an impish grin.

"Oh?"

"You'll see. This way." Sam led him across the maintenance bay to another, large durasteel door in the opposite wall. Within this large wall was a smaller, average sized door, which she keyed open and walked through.

Jack's first impression was of _The Peacemaker, _standing on its landing struts in a marked area, with a clear path to the door. His second was of a large group of assorted smaller crafts, some of which looked remarkably like one-man fighters.

A silly little grin spread across his face.

"Sweet!" Sam grinned, but said nothing as she lead him over to one particular craft, which looked the most like an earth plane. Using her Force powers, she leapt up onto the wing, popped the canopy, and reached in to flick a few switches.

"This," she moved backwards and began to pull something off of a seat, "is an X-wing, modified to fit a second seat in the place of an astromech droid." Jumping down, she handed him an orange bundle. "And this is a flight suit." She started to pull her own suit on over her clothes and Jack followed her example, putting his holster and weapon down beside hers.

Ten minutes later and Sam had instructed him on a few key things such as how to attach his helmet seals in the unlikely event that they would have to go Extra Vehicular as well as on how to adjust the unfamiliar tags, straps and clips of the suit.

Leaping back up on the wing, she reached out a hand and gestured, pulling a set of steps towards them for Jack to clamber aboard on. Settling themselves in, running checks and alerting the Temple that it would be them who were taking off took them only another fifteen minutes. Seeing that all four engines of the plane were lit green, Sam sealed the Canopy.

"You ready to go?"

"Ready and waiting." She could hear the grin in his voice and couldn't stop herself from grinning in return, remembering her first time in an X-wing. She keyed in the repulsors, her gloved fingers flying over the controls. Hovering and engaging her rear thrusters, the X-wing glided out of the bay and through the large, open doors. Once out and over the canopy of the forest at a sufficient altitude, she keyed the sub-light engines in, and they shot off through the atmosphere, bursting out into space in no time at all. The sudden acceleration was accompanied by Jack's joyful whoop as the inertial dampeners reacted too slowly to start with.

"S-foils to attack position." She kept up a running commentary for Jack, knowing that he would be learning to fly properly in the simulators later.

"Cool!" he exclaimed on seeing their wings split into the shape that gave the X-wing its name.

"Very. Inertial Dampeners to 97. Brace yourself."

"Wh-" Jack's question was cut off as Sam abruptly rolled to the left, and killed their forward momentum. "Oh." Having the inertial Dampeners dialled down allowed them to get a feel for the movement of the ship, resulting in an exhilarating stomach-lurch when she pulled manoeuvres like that. "What else can this thing do?"

They continued to run through exercises that received several more exclamations of delight from Jack, ever the flyboy.

"I'm gonna give you control in just a minute. Take a moment to get used to the controls, but nothing big. You won't be able to fly properly yourself until you can understand it properly; after hours of practice in the simulators and learning to read basic," she warned, cutting off his protests with the facts. "You have control now."

"I have control now." They automatically slipped back into the terms that had been used during their own training all those years ago back on Earth. Jack's time getting a feel of the craft was cut short when the space ahead and to their right was suddenly filled with the shapes of a large, heavily armed cruiser chasing a smaller shuttle. Sam grimaced.

"Looks like you'll get a chance to see this ship in action," she told him as a burst of transmission came through over the comm.

"Help…Derren Smithso…amaged. Repeat, I am under atta…key systems d…" The transmission was weak, and interrupted by bursts of static, but Sam recognised the voice.

"I have control now." She grabbed the stick and changed her heading to that of the red and green flashes of the mostly one-sided battle.

"You have control now. Anything I can do?"

"Not unless you can work as well as an R2 unit. Shields to full, quad lasers armed." She hit the comm send button and spoke clearly into the transmitter. "Unidentified vessels, this is X-wing zero-zero-one-tee. Please cease all firing and shut down your engines. Refusal to comply will result in hostile actions against you. Repeat, if you do not comply, I will be forced to take hostile action." She changed the frequency of the transmitter, keeping an ear on the receiver as she sent a message to the Temple. "Yavin Control, this is X-wing zero-zero-one-tee. We have unfriendlies in the system, chasing one of our own. Current heading one-nine-four zero-three-two. Request assistance." She switched frequencies again, Jack in a thin-lipped silence in the background. "Unidentified vessel, this is your last warning." No reply. "They're targeting engines…they want him alive."

They were within range now and Sam immediately threw the X-wing into a series of jukes and jinks, turns and rolls designed to keep the turbolasers of the cruiser from hitting them. They wove in and out of the bright beams of light, Sam using the Force to guide her but still not managing to avoid the occasional impact that caused the ship to shudder as the shields held firm.

They were now only a short way from Yavin 4 and at the back of her mind, Sam registered the fact that Jack had taken over talking to whoever it was down at Yavin control.

Snap rolling to her left, a proton torpedo shooting silently past where she had been only seconds before, Sam edged the targeting reticule to lock onto the area of the cruiser that the computer had – eventually – marked as being the engines. As soon as the display flashed green, the quad lasers finally charged to full, she opened fire, strafing across the ship before shooting past it, leaving only a few lines of carbon scoring as the unusually strong shields held. Pulling a tight turn at 300k ahead of the cruiser, she aimed back towards it, carrying out evasive manoeuvres as she locked on once again and zoomed back at it again.

"Uh, Sam, aren't you going to be cutting it a little close?" Jack's nervous question went unanswered as Sam concentrated on bringing the X-wing in low, only ten or twenty metres above the hull of the ship.

Again, she strafed the craft. This time, the shots impacted along the hull, the shields unable to cope at that close proximity.

She shot past again; slewing into another turn that made their eyes dim and their blood pool in their feet. Sam pulled out of the turn just in time to see the fading orange of a fireball and a flicker as the other ship limped into hyperspace.

"No!" Sam whispered, thinking her friend dead.

"Wait, Sam…the computer seems to be tracking something…there's a flashing screen with a picture and squiggles…an escape pod?"

"I…yes." She breathed in relief, pulling the 'picture with squiggles' up on her own displays. It had been jettisoned seconds before the ship exploded, shooting off towards the moon below them. Sensors informed her that there was a single human life form aboard.

Closing the s-foils and inserting them back into the atmosphere, they reached the temple just in time to see the small atmospheric craft take off and head for where the pod had presumably landed.

Bringing them in softly, Sam expertly landed and shut the craft down, popping the canopy and climbing out, setting the helmet back down on the seat. Jack followed suit, yelping when Sam pushed him off of the wing, using the Force to steady him and make his landing softer before jumping down herself.

"Hey, Teal'c," she greeted the large man who had walked over to meet them. "Was that-?"

"It was Jedi Masters Cilghal and Luke Skywalker. They have gone to retrieve the injured person in the escape pod."

"What just happened?" Daniel asked breathlessly as he jogged up to them.

Jack quickly filled him in on what had happened in the space above, finishing it with, "That was some pretty hot flying up there."

"Thanks," Sam replied distractedly, looking out towards the horizon.

"We have him, and he's okay." The sudden crackle that preceded the voice over a wide-band transmission to the comms cut into the tense air like a Lightsaber through Ithorian butter and Sam finally relaxed.

"Friend of yours?" Jack asked somewhat jealously. Sam nodded.

"I worked with him on Nar Shadaa, he was the only other Force-sensitive of us," she replied, seemingly oblivious to his jealous streak. All of a sudden, she seemed to shake herself out of her daze and turned to them with a smile. "Lunch?" In reply, Teal'c's stomach growled.

"Indeed."

* * *

"…I was walking down the street when they jumped out of a cantina and hit me with a tranquilliser of some sort. When I came to, I was in a small room in another part of the moon." Derren told his story somewhat dazedly…Sam attributed that to the heavy dose of drugs he'd been given and the inevitable dunking in the Bacta tank. "When they came back, I stole the key card for the binders, took my Lightsaber, escaped Nar Shadaa in a stolen ship, and jumped to here. When I came out of hyperspace, they were right on my tail."

"How?" Sam interjected, knowing that they wouldn't have been able to follow him through hyperspace.

"I don't know. I guess they must have guessed where I was heading…they knew that I was a Jedi, so it would have made sense." Sam nodded slowly…something was making the hairs on the back of her neck rise, and she couldn't put her finger on what it was. "And…well, you know the rest. Thank you."

"No problem. I'm glad you're okay…just make sure you get some rest now." She told him, squeezing his shoulder briefly before leaving.

Luke had explained to her that Derren had been on the Smugglers' Moon to investigate a lead for the Jedi. It had been nothing major, nothing that would have warranted a kidnapping and trailing through the galaxy.

"What do you think?" Luke asked her, falling into step beside her.

"Something's not right."

"That's the feeling I got. What about Derren's kidnappers?"

"I think it's most likely Terrell's men; he'd have been looking for revenge against the Jedi for shutting him down, even if you couldn't get an extended sentence for him."

"Could be. How are your friends doing?"

"Daniel's absorbed in the history of the Jedi and the Republic, with a little help from Tionne. Teal'c's been with Cilghal and Tekli, trying to find a cure before he runs out of Tretonin, and Jack…Jack's been learning how to read Basic so that he can get in the simulators and learn to fly." She laughed, smiling at the silver-haired man who had spent the last three days learning to attribute new symbols to their English equivalents. Luke raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't tell him that we can reconfigure it?"

"No…he needs something to do and Basic is a vital language in this Galaxy. I learned that the hard way." Her expression darkened for a moment before she forced the dark thoughts away. "Plus Jack, when he's bored, is not nice."

"So what are you going to do once he's finished that?"

"Teach him starship mechanics." Luke raised an eyebrow. "You really shouldn't be fooled by that 'I don't have two brain cells to rub together' act."

"I'll bear that in mind." Luke replied dryly as they reached the training room and warmed up, Luke partnering Sam for a practice duel.

* * *

"Ah!" Jack cried in frustration as the insistent bleeping of the ship told him that his shields were down to 7, both right engines had failed, his R4 unit had been fried and there was a proton torpedo locked in his six and closing. He squeezed his eyes shut as it hit and his ship exploded in a brief ball of light. His displays told him that he had lasted an entire 20 minutes this time and that, yet again, it was Sam who had vaped him and not any of the computer-run fighters.

Popping the canopy on the simulator, he climbed out to meet a smugly grinning Sam and a laughing Dentralla.

"You're good," Sam told him sincerely. It had been only his third non-training flight in the sim after all.

"You're better," he replied glumly.

"Yup." Dentralla growled a comment and Sam snorted, turning and fixing a look on the large Wookie.

"What?" Jack asked, eyes narrowed.

"She was just reminding me that on my first five sim flights I lasted only five minutes. What she forget to mention was that I was flying against a fully trained member of Rogue Squadron-turned-Jedi."

"Rogue Squadron?"

"X-wing squadron formed during the Rebellion, notorious for being the best-of-the-best."

"Oh."

"So, Jack…how do you fancy having something to do?"

"I get the feeling I don't really have a choice in this."

"No, but I'm sure you'll like it."

"And 'it' would be…?"

"Starship mechanics."

"What?"

"There's a whole docking bay full of ships, all of which need maintenance and repairs. I need a helper." Dentralla yowled at her. "_Another_ helper."

"You want _me_ to help you with your Doohickeys?"

"Yes, Jack." She rolled her eyes, knowing what he was doing.

"Oh, come on, you know I never understand what you're on about." He didn't sound too sure about that.

"Yes, you do. After all…you do have a masters degree in Physics."

"I…how long have you known that?"

"Quite a while. Jack, I know you're not as stupid as you make yourself out to be, and I know that you were interested in engineering once."

"Exactly. Once. Years ago."

"For crying out loud Jack, I can sense what you're feeling, I know that you're not stupid, and I know that you need something to occupy your hands as much as your mind. You've been pretending to be stupid for so long now that you've convinced yourself that you are."

Jack pursed his lips, a hard look in his eyes as he stared at Sam. She stared back, and he eventually gave in and looked away. She sensed that there was some reason that he had put up his 'dumb little me' façade but that he wasn't going to talk about it any time soon. What she didn't know was that it went as far back as his childhood, where his dislike for scientists and his reasons for acting dumb had started.

A deep rumble spilled forth from Dentralla and suspected that her eyes were twinkling mischievously. He turned to Sam, who was fighting to keep a grin off of her face.

"She says you can always take over from the cleaning droids if you really want."

"Funny. C'mon Sam. You're going to have to teach me how to make one of those static-electricity machine things…you know the ones that make your hair stand on end." He started to walk towards the maintenance bay, Sam and Dentralla following after and chuckling.

Sam decided to start simple with him, teaching as she went along. What she didn't realise was just how far back she would have to go.

"Look, I haven't given any of this stuff a thought in over twenty years, so you'll have to remind me as we go along." Sam grimaced.

"Right. What about Nintendo's?"

"Oy!"

* * *

"Alright, Teal'c, buddy, we'll be here waiting for you." Jack told the large, stoic Jaffa, grasping his hand once more before moving back out of the way. Daniel and Sam gave him similar words of support, at which he bowed his head solemnly.

"Thank you, my friends," he told them weakly.

It had been three weeks, and they were out of Tretonin, no closer to finding a cure, so they had fallen back on plan B. The problem with plan B was that it meant he had to stop taking the Tretonin for long enough to get it out of his system so that Cilghal could put him in a healing trance and use the Force to try to encourage his body to reconstruct itself. If it didn't work, he would die, and the Force healing was an untried method, so they had no idea whether to expect success or not.

They had tried to find a way to get back through the Stargate, but without a fleet of their own, they had no hope, which meant that they would have to go through the New Republic. As they didn't want the entire galaxy to know about the Stargate; at least not until it was secure and under control - where slavers and smugglers wouldn't be able to get it – they'd had to restrict themselves to putting the proposal to the Inner Council. They had not even been able to schedule a meeting with them yet.

Jack had raved at length about politics, and smarmy politicians who were just trying it belittle the Jedi that they held a grudge against, but it hadn't helped.

They were now facing the possibility that this could be the last time that they spoke to their friend and it showed in the hard set to their jaws and the glimmers in their eyes.

Stepping forward, Cilghal blinked her large eyes and set a salmon-covered hand over the waxy looking face of Teal'c, slipping him into a healing trance before seating herself beside him, holding his hand and lowering her head, concentrating.

They remained like that for days…Tekli taking care of Cilghal and Teal'c, making sure the Mon Calamari's skin did not dry out and that both were kept up with fluids. There was always one of his team-members standing sentry over him, watching, and waiting for any sign of life.

Sam suddenly looked up from the power converter that she had been showing Jack, her Force sense urging her to rush to the med bay.

"What is it?"

"Teal'c."

They rushed off without a second thought, barrelling into Daniel at the door. Daniel shook his head, a pained expression on his face; the steady mechanical tone of a two-one-bee's heart monitoring system a grim punctuation to the news.


	16. Assasination

**Chapter 16 – Assassination**

Cilghal muttered a very un-Jedi like curse in her native language as she felt the life seeping out of the man who had fought for so long against the injustices that had been dealt to him.

She had known when she put him into a healing trance that the risks were high, which was why she had saved it as a last resort and she had also not known what she would do once he was in the trance. The damage to his body had been caused by genetic manipulation; it was now written into his genes, nothing like a disease, or even a virus, or injury that could be fought off or healed by the Force.

Feeling her connection with the Force weakening as she let her despair distract her, she strengthened it and turned every last piece of her concentration to the task at hand, even as she sensed the lack of a heartbeat. Her concentration so full that her unconscious mind did not even register the ominous drone of the two-one-bee's ECG monitor.

She ran her Force-sense over his cells again, feeling the inherent wrong-ness in them that lit up where the cells had been changed, tricked into believing that they had no need for an immune system. Realisation dawned a fraction of a second later.

If these Goa'uld could trick it into believing that it didn't need an immune system, then what was to stop her from tricking it into thinking that it did? It would be difficult, to say the least, but if it would save his life, then it was more than worth the risk.

Locating a cell that had just begun cell division by Mitosis, she reached into it with the Force, trying to coax it into repairing the anomalous sections of the chromosomes. It didn't work. The cell divided as it had countless times before, so she moved onto another one and tried again. This time, she succeeded, and the cells produced were two glowing examples of what they should have been.

Wasting no more time than it took to mentally smile at her success, she moved on to another cell in another key area of his body. It would be a slow process and she would start with one cell in each of the major areas before concentrating on others, but her success gave her renewed energy.

Only a small portion of her mind was not focused in what she was doing, and that part was concentrating on keeping his body alive for long enough to let him move onto keeping himself alive. It was mostly just an extension of her own subconscious continuance of bodily functions, brought about by the Force.

* * *

"No," Jack informed them, his face pained. "She can help him." He gestured to Cilghal, his voice cracking slightly. Sam and Daniel's eyes were full of tears, and they had their arms around each other, supporting each other through their bond.

"Jack," Daniel began, reaching out a hand to put it on his friend's shoulder. For a minute, they thought that he would shrug it off, as he usually did when they offered comfort, but he left it there, silently acknowledging it but neither accepting, nor rejecting it.

"Jedi Tekli," the mechanical, emotionless voice of the medical droid cut through the air harshly. "I am getting anomalous readings from the patient. There is no heartbeat, but normal bodily functions continue and blood continues to flow."

Tekli gave a Chadra-fan frown and reached a hand across to rest on Cilghal's arm for a moment, her eyes closed in concentration. When she opened them again, she was smiling.

"Master Cilghal thinks she may have found a way to help him, though it is still early days yet. She has taken control of his body functions to keep him alive while she does this. There is still hope." The three humans broke into relieved grins, breathing a sigh of relief into the tense room.

"She can do that?" Jack asked, mostly to break the silence.

"She can, but she risks her own life, too," Tekli replied, somewhat unhappily. "If it were anyone but Master Cilghal, I would not allow them to do it, because if she fails now, then she will die with Teal'c."

"Oh," Daniel seemed rather dumbstruck. "She'd do that for a relative stranger?"

"Jedi are keepers of the peace and preservers of life."

"Talk about a job and a half," Jack quipped, glancing at Sam, who muttered something unintelligible.

"It will be a long, long time before they awaken, if they do at all," Tekli said to them. "You will be best off continuing as you have been previously." Sam mentally translated it as Doctor-speak for 'Get out of here and stop cluttering the room before I get annoyed'.

"Right, sorry." Jack had apparently come to the same conclusion. "But there's no way I'm gonna let him wake up alone, so Daniel, you wanna carry on here for a while?" The younger man had only just started his part of their 'rotation' when Teal'c had, essentially, died.

"Sure, I'll be good for a while now," he replied, gesturing datapads full of information on anything that may refer to the Stargate in this galaxy. "You go learn starship mechanics," he added, struggling to keep a smirk from his face.

"Funny." Jack narrowed his eyes at Daniel. "Just because you don't know that to maximise the efficiency of a working hyperdrive unit, you have to wire in a power-flux capacitator, which works by refining the flow of electrons into the unit, therefore making it more stable and capable of nearly .5 past lightspeed." Daniel glanced at Sam, who nodded imperceptibly before his jaw dropped to the floor. Jack smirked smugly before turning on his heel and walking off. Sam shot Daniel a grin and a wave before catching up to Jack.

"That was right, wasn't it?" he asked, once they were well out of earshot.

"Almost. It's a capacitor…a capacitator is a Gand vegetable, and it will only increase it to .4 past lightspeed, for .5, you need to include a flux capacitor-amplifier."

"Damn, I always have trouble with the names. I _know_ what it is, what it looks like, and how it does it; I can just never remember the names."

"Yeah, I noticed that." Sam glanced at her wrist chrono. "I've got to go train with Corran; you be okay to finish off working on that seflar unit with Dentralla?"

"Sure, I'll find a translator unit, though."

"Right, see you later." Sam headed off to the training room where she and Corran usually trained to find him already there, sitting cross-legged in front of him.

"Sorry I'm late." She offered no explanation for her tardiness as she sat in front of him, mirroring his position.

"Not a problem. Ready?" Sam nodded. "Okay, we're going to work on sensory enhancement. I want you to stand in the middle of the room, close your eyes, and focus on hearing. I want you to point towards the place where the noise is coming from." Following his orders with her usual trace bemusement at his no-nonsense commanding tone that reminded her of the Academy teachers, she ran through the Sense Enhancement routine. Eyes closed, she could hear her own heartbeat pounding in her ears and Corran's breathing over the other side of the room. An ant (well, the Yavin equivalent) scurried noisily across the floor in one corner and the slight click of a control being pressed. Within seconds, a soft noise sounded to her right and she reached out and pointed directly at it. This was followed by several more noises, which she located effortlessly.

"Well done. You won't necessarily be standing in a silent room when you have to use this technique, so I'm going to talk over the noises for a while…." Corran continued to speak, his voice almost painfully loud in her ears and she continued to point out sounds, with more difficulty, but still exactly on each time.

"Excellent, now, as I'm sure you're aware, you won't always be able to concentrate entirely, so I'm going to talk to you and ask you questions, to which you will answer and try not to raise suspicions to your lack of concentration, okay?"

"S'ok with me." She pointed to her left, aiming on target and continued as he spoke.

"Good, so I hear you've been training a new helper with the tech work. How's he doing?"

"Great, he finds it a little diffi-" point, "-cult at times. He's been pretending to be dumb for the last thirty odd years, so," point, "he needs a little reminding about a lo-" point "-t of things."

"Why was it you decided to teach him again?" Point.

"There's a chance that we may never get to go back through the 'gate," point, "and he needed something to do."

"That the only reason?"

"Yeah," point, "why would there be another reason?"

"Maybe because you wanted to spend a little more time with him?"

"What?"

"Sam, I'm not blind; it's obvious how much you care for him." A belated point.

"I _used_ to," point, "I'm a different person now, and so is he."

"And I'm a son of a Hutt."

"Wondered what the smell was."

"You don't have to be afraid of it, Sam."

"I'm not afraid."

"Of course not." His reply, amplified by the Force, was scathing and disbelieving.

"Just because I don't want to get attached to someone who may go home when I don't even know whether I would rather be here does not mean I'm afraid." Was her vehement reply.

"Don't jump to conclusions. How do you know he wouldn't stay here if you asked him? I'd just like to see you _really _happy for once." He let his comment hang for a moment before telling her to drop the sensory enhancement. "Not bad, but you were late with quite a few, and more were off target on that last bit. Towards the end, you missed them all. You can't let your emotions distract you, even though you won't forbid them entirely."

Sam grunted a reply, grudgingly admitting that he had a point about distraction.

"Now, how about a duel? Haven't practised in a while, and I could do with the exercise."

"Sure."

* * *

It had been two weeks and still Teal'c and Cilghal had not yet awakened, or even twitched a finger. Tekli continued to assure them that everything was going well. This was compounded when the ECG suddenly flared into a weak bleeping, announcing that Teal'c's body had once again taken over for itself a few days ago.

All three of them had been ordered out in order for the two beings to be cleaned up and checked over and were now sitting in the Mess hall, drinking hot drinks.

"…Anyway I haven't been able to find anything much on the Stargate, but that doesn't mean that there weren't any, because most of the records were destroyed during the Clone Wars and Emperor Palpatine's rule." Daniel stopped his explanation to let Luke, who had just walked up, talk.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I just got off the Holo with Leia, and you've been granted audience with the inner council in a week's time."

"Sweet." Luke smiled at Jack's comment before continuing.

"Unfortunately, I can't go with you, but Leia and Han are going to put two of you and Dentralla up, as one of you will undoubtedly want to stay here with Teal'c. The rest of the information is on here," he presented Sam with a Data chip.

"Thanks, Luke, you off to meet Mara?" Sam could sense the anticipation in the Jedi Master and knew that Mara was due back after one of her trips to sort out loose ends for her former employer Talon Karrde. The two Skywalkers rarely got much time together, so they made the most of what they did get.

"Yeah, she's landing at the moment."

"Well then, don't let us keep you." Jack grinned and waved him off with silent thanks.

"See you soon then; may the Force be with you."

"You too." Luke headed of at a brisk pace that was only just this side of a run.

"So which two?" Daniel asked, "obviously you, Sam, because we have no clue what we're dealing with; who else?"

"That'll be you, Danny boy, you're the diplomat."

Sam frowned at them, thinking it over, "I'm not so sure."

"You're not?" Jack questioned, surprised.

"No." She was getting the feeling that it should be Jack, who went, though she didn't know why. She put it down to the Force in the end. "It'll be me, Dentralla and Jack, Daniel should stay with Teal'c."

"You sure you want me in front of all these councillors with you?" Jack still couldn't understand it and even Daniel was a little puzzled.

"Yeah."

"Why?" Jack's eyebrows were creeping into his hairline.

"I don't know, I just know. Call it a Jedi's intuition."

"Ookay…if you're sure. That okay with you, Spacemonkey?"

"Yeah, sure." Daniel paused a second before continuing, "Jack the not-quite-so-dumb, I can handle but…Jack the Diplomat?"

* * *

Bringing them steadily down on the platform that Coruscant Control had told them was designated landing Pad IP-9, Sam and Dentralla quickly shut the _Peacemaker_ down before grabbing her gear and following Jack down the ramp. She was surprised to see two figures walking through the doors at the end of the pad. One was tall, with brown hair and rather scruffy clothes; the other was an even taller Wookie, with a shock of tan and black hair.

"Han, Chewie, good to see you again!" she called out, meeting them halfway. "This is Jack O'Neill, a friend from my home planet." The two had obviously been briefed on the significance of this as they nodded knowingly. "Jack, this is Han Solo and Chewbacca." The two men greeted each other with a handshake as the two Wookies yowled a greeting at each other.

"Leia wanted to be here to meet you, but she got held up in another of her endless meetings," Han explained somewhat bitterly. "But if you want to come back and dump your stuff, she should be back soon, and then we can see about getting some food."

"Sounds great. How are the kids?"

Han grimaced, "just starting to get good with some of that Jedi stuff Luke's been teaching them so…they're a handful. I just hope Threepio will still be in one piece when we get back."

"Winter not there?"

"Yeah, but Jacen and Jaina have all but perfected the art of breaking things quietly." Sam bit her lip to stop herself from laughing but Chewie and Dentralla made no effort to hide their laughter. Han just barked his usual retort of 'Laugh it up, fuzzball' as he led them through the never-ending corridors of the Imperial Palace.

When they reached the apartment, Han keyed the door open and was greeted by three cries of 'Daddy!' as the children hurled themselves at him.

"Oomph, hey, I was only gone a half hour."

"SAM!" Jaina suddenly noticed that Sam stood behind him and threw herself towards the crouched blonde, giving her a hug. Jaina had developed an attachment to Sam since she had saved her from the pirates, strengthened by their shared skill with technology.

"Hey, Jaina, not causing trouble are you?"

"Nope, I never do." Sam raised an eyebrow but said nothing about it. "Who's that?" the ten-year-old girl whispered loudly in her ear.

"This is my friend Jack, Jack this is Jaina and Jacen-"

"We're twins!" Jacen cut in proudly.

"And this is Anakin." Jack crouched down next to them so that he was on their level and reached out a hand to each of them, a twinkle in his eye. All three kids puffed out their chests and returned the handshake and greeting, pleased at being able to behave like a grown-up.

"Children…where's Threepio?" a tall, stately looking woman with long, white hair strode into the room, seemingly surprised at seeing the people gathered there. "Oh, I'm sorry; I didn't hear you come in."

"That's okay, Winter, you remember Sam?" Han knew the question was pointless…Winter was once known as Targeter, an essential spy in that she never forgot a thing, but he asked anyway.

Winter smiled winningly. "Of course. I'm sorry I haven't seen you since then, you're looking well."

"Thanks, so are you." Sam quickly introduced Jack before Han suddenly frowned.

"Where _is_ Threepio?" The twins looked around in mock surprise as Anakin shrugged. Sam concentrated for a moment, stretching out with the Force.

"Try the cupboard next to the 'fresher." Winter obligingly did so and returned a couple of seconds later with the tall, humanoid protocol droid.

"It was Jacen and Jaina!" Anakin immediately exclaimed, receiving irritated glares from the twins.

"Only 'cause you messed with his voice modulator."

"I tell you, I am quite offended, I insist that you return my voice to normal at once!" The droid's demand was made somewhat more difficult to take seriously by the fact that his spoke in absurdly high pitched tones.

"Anakin, change it back at once," Winter ordered him her outwardly angry appearance at odds with her internal mirth.

"You better do it, kids; you know what Winter's like when she gets mad." Winter ushered the kids off, along with Threepio, who was still exclaiming about the indignity of it all.

Sitting down with drinks in the tastefully decorated sitting room, Han, Sam, and the two Wookies chatted for a while. They brought Jack into it when they could, but he was left mostly lost as they talked about things he didn't know or because he understood one word in about 30 of Shyrriwook.

Leia arrived a half hour later, greeting them warmly before heading to change out of her stately robes and into some much more practical and comfortable pants, boots, blouse, and jacket, which she rarely got to wear anymore. That done, they headed out of the Imperial Palace and into another, upper-class area of Coruscant, heading toward a local restaurant with the unusual difference of having a casual dress code.

As they stepped onto the slideway of the bridge, Sam tensed, feeling Jack automatically tense beside her, reacting to her sudden nervousness.

"What is it?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know…something's not right…DUCK!" the last word was yelled as a command and the people around her, all of them experienced in the field of being shot at, ducked to the floor as Sam whipped her Sabre out and deflected the shot that came flying at her. Tracking its trajectory, she switched her aim and sent the next bolt back at the dark figure she could see standing at the far end of a balcony across the way. Beside her, Jack stood to kneel; his blaster aimed in the same place as Sam's defected bolt had gone. He pulsed out two shots and the dark shape slumped forwards, falling off the edge of the balcony and sailing down into oblivion. If he hadn't been killed by the shots, then he would be by his eventual impact with the ground around 30 or 40 kilometres down. Her Force danger sense abating, Sam relaxed and shut her Lightsaber down, motioning for everyone to stand up. Several civilian pedestrians around them were whimpering and crying, but there were only a handful and none close enough to have really been in any danger.

"Nice shooting," Han told Jack.

"Thanks," Jack replied tersely.

"Any idea what that was about?" Leia asked, the two Wookies falling into front and rear guard positions.

"Not really," Sam continued to scan the area around her, but she was pretty sure they were out of danger now. "But I have kinda made a few enemies recently. Add those to your list of enemies and it's most probably a bounty hunter down on his luck and ready to risk shooting in broad daylight with a whole crowd of onlookers. Wish we could look at his body though, might give us a clue."

"Sorry," Jack mumbled but Sam shook her head to indicate that it wasn't his fault.

"Looks like it's a home-cooked meal then," Han told them with a lopsided grin as they remounted the slideway back towards the Palace and the apartment. "Who's up for traditional Correllian?"

Leia, Chewie, and Dentralla groaned.

* * *

"Stop fidgeting," Sam reached over and grasped Jack's hands, stilling the nervous movements.

Jack shot her a murderous look. "How can you stay calm? Whether or not we go home is dependent on this."

Sam grinned impishly back at him. "Jedi calming technique." She didn't tell him that on the inwardly, her insides were writhing like a pit of snakes, topped off with a bellyful of butterflies.

"Jedi Apprentice Carter and Jack O'Neill," an aide called them forward and announced them as they entered the fairly large room. They were running a few minutes early, Sam noted as they entered.

Seated on the chairs were a handful of senators for various key planets. The only ones that Sam recognised were those for Kashyyyk, Correllia, Alderaan (the Alderaanian survivor colonies) and, of course, Borsk Fey'lya for Bothawui.

Walking across to the small podium, Sam and Jack stood side-by-side, dressed in smart clothes, Sam's topped with her brown robe.

The layout of the room, Sam immediately noticed, was designed to make the speaker feel intimidated, placing Chief of State Fey'lya in the highest position, looking down on them. Sam guessed that Jack had noticed this too as his nervousness was replaced by annoyance at the superiority of the senators. Sam started by re-introducing the data that they had already been given on the Stargate.

"We're honestly expected to believe that you two are from another galaxy when we all know that the distance between galaxies is too far for one ship to cross in hundreds of years, let alone a few seconds. You're not even alien…you're human," one disbelieving senator called out.

"Yes," she pushed a holochip into the display projector, pulling up the digital image of the 'gate that she had made. "The Stargate is a device created by an extinct race of aliens known as the Ancients. It works by creating a stable wormhole between two gates in different places. When you step into the 'gate, you are particlised and passed down the matter stream, only to be re-integrated at the other end. By boosting the power, it can be made to travel further and further, even to encompass other galaxies."

"So you say that you cannot travel between galaxies by ship?" another asked.

"No, you can…or rather a race called the Asgard can, in a matter of seconds."

"And, supposing we were to help you, these Asguard would be willing to give us their technology?"

"I don't know."

"Then what reason have we for helping you?" Fey'lya asked, the fur on his head bristling in some unknown Bothan gesture. "You ask us to risk our men and ships for what? So that four of you may return home with knowledge of our technology to steal?"

"No," Sam relied, trying to ignore her frustration. "I ask you because at the moment, a criminal organisation has control of it, and is using it to capture people as slaves."

"And we are to take this on the word of someone mysteriously disappeared ten months ago, only to reappear with three mysterious friends who claim that they are from another galaxy?" Of the senators gathered, there seemed to be a select few who were asking the questions. The rest remained contemplatively silent, willing to hear all of the evidence before they asked questions.

"There were other witnesses to the activation of the 'gate and the appearance of SG-1, one of whom died before they even got halfway across the room."

"That still does not explain what it was you disappeared for."

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Jack cut in, "Whoever you got this from, they obviously failed to mention that she spent most of that time planet-hopping to save no fewer than…twenty-seven planets from a virus that would have left the galaxy in serious trouble."

"A virus that was brought through this…Stargate."

"Exactly…if it had been in your control, then it would never have got any further than the building the 'gate was in," Jack retorted quickly. "Look, its open now and nothing is going to stop it, but do you really want to be the ones that everybody looks to and says 'well, they're the ones that let the galaxy get taken over by the Goa'uld'."

"The what?"

Sam opened her mouth to reply but paused, and stepped back to let Jack talk, a frown creasing her face.

She quickly ran through a sensory-enhancement routine and listened intently. _Bip._ This time she took a few deep breaths, an occasional _Bip_ sounding in the background. There it was: the unmistakable tang of explosives. Letting the sensory enhancements drop, she burst into motion.

"Everyone out! There are explosives rigged in here."

"What? This is preposterous!" someone began to protest, only Triebakk, the Wookie representative moving, trying to usher others out. Sam pulled her Lightsaber out and yelled at Jack to get people out. Within seconds, she had sliced into the floor and carefully opened a metre square in the floor, revealing a hollow space filled with a large amount of explosives and wiring. The display read '2:34' and was counting down steadily.

Kneeling on the floor, Sam looked at the wiring, tracing where each piece started and finished; coming to the conclusion that this was made by a specialist and wired so that almost anything would trigger it to blow.

"Sam, we gotta go!" Jack yelled to her, having got everyone out of the room and running for the emergency escape routes.

"Just a minute!" 1:47

"Now! Sam, or we're never going to get clear." She was tracing the wires with the Force, trying to sense which one to cut. Jack waited for a while, getting increasing worried, and feeling a desperate urge to get out of there. He _knew_ that they had to go.

"We don't have a minute!" 1:13

"I can disarm it!" She was concentrating on the bomb and didn't hear Jack run up to her.

"Not this time, you can't." He grabbed her around the waist and heaved her away, much to her annoyance. She stumbled to her feet and ran alongside him, legs pumping for all they were worth. They had barely made it to the doors when the explosion ripped through the chamber. They grabbed hold of each other, trying to make themselves as small as possible as the force of it tore at them, flinging them against the wall. Sam put up a barrier to suck all of the energy out of the fire that followed. The barrier didn't, however, account for the debris thrown at them, though it did slow much of it down, sucking the kinetic energy out of it.

She barely registered that Jack's hand was still clasped in hers, as they lay crumpled on the floor in front of the wall. Jack had borne the brunt of most of the impact against the wall and Sam had received the worst of the pelting rain of debris.

Only when she knew that the fire was gone did she allow herself to slip into darkness.


	17. Realisation

**Chapter 17 – Realisation**

Leia Organa Solo, Princess of a destroyed world, key player of the Rebel Alliance, one of the founders of the New Republic, former Chief of State and all-round saviour of the galaxy resisted the urge to stick her thumbs in her ears, poke her tongue out and waggle her fingers.

"Do you not think that what matters right now is that everyone is safe, no-one of any importance got injured and not who is to blame?"

"_No-one of any importance_?" she spluttered, turning on the Bothan Chief of State angrily. "Never mind that two good people very nearly died in order to get you and yours out of that room safe and uninjured. You owe them your lives…you all do, and this is the thanks you give them."

Fey'lya's face remained impassive though the fur on his head twitched in an unrecognisable Bothan gesture. "We would not owe them our lives if they had not been the ones to plant the bomb in the first place," he bit back. "Is it not entirely too convenient that they just _happened_ to find a well-hidden explosive that the security forces could not?"

"If that is the case, then why did they allow themselves to become so grievously injured? What did you say their injuries were, Doctor?" Triebakk spoke from his place on a bunk in the large Emergency Medical room where they had gathered to be treated mostly for shock and a few bruises. The exceptions to this were bobbing lazily in two of the four cylindrical tanks, orange Bacta bubbling around them.

"Mr. O'Neill has internal bleeding, three cracked ribs, a concussion, a broken collarbone, broken right leg and shattered cheekbone. Jedi Carter though, has a cracked shoulder blade, skull fracture, major concussion, broken left arm, two cracked ribs, internal bleeding, shattered right wrist, broken hipbone several broken toes and fingers, and deep lacerations to her back.

"Frankly I'm amazed they're alive. From what I could tell, it sounds as if they were thrown against the wall with Mr. O'Neill taking the brunt of it, and then hit by projectile masonry, which Jedi Carter took the worst of. I thank the Force they're still alive."

"We all do, Dr. Pokor." Leia turned back to the group, shooting Triebakk a grateful look. "And therein lies your answer, Chief Fey'lya…in case it had escaped your notice earlier, Sam Carter is a Jedi in training…very close to becoming a full Jedi Knight. That is how she was able to recognise the presence of the explosive long before it detonated."

"What is to say that their plan did not simply go awry?" the Sullustan senator cut in, obviously unconvinced as to the reality of the Force.

"Because, Senator…?"

"Tief'oor."

"Tief'oor, there would have been no reason to pull such a stunt."

"Unless it was in the hopes of convincing us that we owed them for saving their lives," Fey'lya sneered.

"There would be far more expedient ways of doing that, and you know it," Leia snapped back, tiredness, worry, and frustration finally grinding her patience down.

"Chief Fey'lya," the raspy voice of the Mon Calamari representative spoke up for the first time, her eyes swivelling to focus on Leia and Fey'lya. "Were not we running ahead of schedule?"

"We were what of it?"

"Is it not possible that the bomb was set to go off at the beginning of the meeting?"

"Ye-es…?"

Leia frowned, seeing where the Mon Cal Becklor was heading with her query but knowing that it would hold no weight if it came from her.

"If that were so then it was most likely there to prevent what Jedi Carter and Mr. O'Neill had to say from being said," the large Duro Senator intoned thoughtfully.

"If that were so, then it suggests that this Stargate of theirs is of significant importance." Leia stood quietly back while the council members bickered in their own overly polite, pompous way over whether or not this could be true. She had done all she could for now and was content to step away a little and check on Dentralla, who sat morosely beside Sam's tank, silently berating herself for not having been there. The fact was that she had been ordered to stay behind and that she would not have been allowed in there as she was considered 'unnecessary personnel' and therefore, not allowed within a hundred yards of any inner council member without a thorough check first. Knowing that the most reply she would get from the Wookie would be a forlorn growl and an angry dismissal of her comfort, Leia contented herself with laying a small hand on Dentralla's large shoulder and looking up at the orange-tinted forms in the tanks.

Knowing how much she missed her own home planet of Alderaan, she hoped that they would be able to find a way home for themselves.

* * *

Hetarn glanced fleetingly at the man before him; a shrivelled husk of his former self.

"Do you mean to tell me, Telk, that your bounty hunter failed to succeed in eliminating the Tau'ri humans?"

"Y-yes, My Lord," the other stuttered. "They died trying My Lord." The sycophantic man cowered as Hetarn stepped closer.

"As they deserved to. Tell me, where they the best?"

"They were the best available to-"

"Where they the best?"

"No, My Lord. Boba Fett is the best, but he would not take the job."

"Then you should have made it a more lucrative deal."

"But My Lord, he said he'd learnt his lesson about dealing with Jedi long ago."

"Silence." Hetarn finally stopped in his pacing and stood in front of him. "It is just as well that I had secondary measures in place."

"That was you, My Lord?"

"Yes."

"But…they didn't die."

"Enough! Do not try to belittle your superiors, _human_. I knew they would most probably survive, but it should have been enough to deter the pitiful Inner Council from backing them.

"It is a pity that they did not take the hint, though as this will make things so much more tiresome. They will undoubtedly carry out reconnaissance on this fleet before they mount any attack…" Hetarn trailed off as his thinking returned to the confines of his own head. _If I cannot stop them coming then I can at least leave them ill-prepared,_ he thought, smirking as he mentally calculated how much of his already expanding fleet they knew existed for definite.

Suddenly breaking from his reverie, he turned towards the grovelling Telk. "I will not require your assistance any more. Your men are now firmly in service to their Lord. Power is such a wonderful thing…it can win the loyalty of even the most cowardly and rebellious."

"I can leave?" Telk asked hopefully, his voice a squeak.

"I did not say you could leave, I merely said I would not require your assistance any more," and with that, he brought his hand around to his front, palm outstretched over Telk's forehead. "You will not be coming back this time," he informed him with a malicious grin, nodding his head at the large golden sarcophagus that decorated the plain, military furnishings of the room. With a single thought, he activated the adapted ribbon device, the stone flaring to life and causing Telk to scream as he was slowly killed for the last time.

Hetarn called in a white-armoured Stormtrooper to take the body away, his mind flickering briefly to the similarities to the System Lords he had once served…an armour built to impress that covered soldiers mindlessly loyal to a tee.

He smiled in satisfaction at his new army and his new plans. His smile slipped slightly at their tenacity and sheer refusal to die. _There is always Xitori,_ he thought, his smug smile returning.

* * *

Daniel's now over-sensitive ears triggered him to wake at the sound of a soft sigh. He blinked blearily around the medical room he was in, realising that he had fallen asleep listening for any signs of life from either Teal'c or Cilghal again. Had it been three weeks or four now? He stretched his back and shoulders out, regretting falling sleep leaning on the back of the chair instantly. He looked over at the lone figure of Teal'c, wishing that he would – _Lone?_ The realisation that Teal'c was alone with him, which meant that Cilghal had moved, which implied they'd awakened sent Daniel stumbling over to the bed, his hope sinking slightly as he realised the tall Jaffa was still and his eyes remained closed.

"DanielJackson, you have awakened." The weak, barely audible comment was squeezed out of almost closed lips.

"Teal'c? You're awake?"

"I am."

"You're awake!" Daniel grinned like a kid in a candy store. "How do you feel?"

"I do not feel well. I have only just awoken; perhaps it would be prudent to summon JediCilghal."

"I, uh, yeah, she must have only just woken as well…I'll get Tekli…"

"Thank you."

Daniel rushed from the room, searching for Tekli or Cilghal or someone. He eventually found them in another of the medical rooms, Cilghal sipping on water, lying exhausted on the bed.

"He's uh…Teal'c's awake!" he exclaimed happily, slightly out of breath.

"Master Cilghal. I shall go tend to him; you will be alright?"

"Yes, go," Cilghal rasped weakly. "I will rest now."

Tekli followed a bouncing Daniel back towards Teal'c's room, both of them unknowing of the conversation Luke was about to have with Han via the holonet just a few rooms away.

"Hey Kid, how you doing?" The grainy image of Han floated above the projector, his usually nonchalant pose altered minutely by the tension in him. Luke noticed this immediately, his smile turning to a frown.

"What is it, Han?" he asked worriedly.

"What, I can't just call my brother-in-law up for a chat?"

"Han…"

"Right." Han gave up his attempt at lightening the mood through humour and ran a hand uneasily through his hair. "There was a bomb at the Imperial Palace a couple days ago-"

"Leia?" Luke cut him off, thinking that he would have felt it if something had happened to his sister.

"No, it was in the inner council chamber…it was Sam and her friend Jack."

"Sithspit! They're not…"

"Dead? No, but only just. Listen, we meant to tell you earlier, but it's been mayhem over here, so," the small figure shrugged.

"That's okay, Han, I- excuse me a minute," Luke stepped out of the transmitter field just long enough for his messenger to relay a message to him. When he stepped back in again he had a slight smile on his face. "Good news: Cilghal and Teal'c are awake…they're weak, but they're going to make it."

"Good news? That's great news! Hey, Leia, I'm talking to Luke…" A few seconds later and his sister joined Han in the field looking weary, but pleased to see him as she wrapped an arm around Han.

"Hi, Luke, I just got back. Sam woke up for a little while in between stints in the Bacta, but she was in a lot of pain and put herself into a healing trance. Dr. Pokor thinks it will only be a few weeks before they can be shipped home for lots of rest and recovery. I'll send the reports; see what you make of them."

"I'll bet. Listen, I've got to go and tell the other two…Teal'c's just woken up."

"He has? That's great! They'll be pleased to know that the Inner Council is going to help us re-take that Stargate device, too. They'll sort out details in a few weeks' time, after Sam and Jack have recovered. I love you."

"I love you, too."

"And May the Force be with you," Han added with a half smile, shooting Luke a mock salute.

"You too, Han." The transmission cut out. "You too." With a sigh, he headed for the medbay, looking over the information Leia had sent him and silently wishing that he didn't have to tell them that their friends were seriously injured.

"Master Skywalker," Tekli greeted him as he walked into the room.

"Tekli, Daniel…how are you feeling, Teal'c?"

"I am well, thank you." Luke rolled his eyes at the blatant lie, told out of politeness rather than as a deception.

"Look, I have some rather, uh, bad news…"

Daniel groaned and folded his arms across his chest. "What kind of trouble have Jack and Sam got themselves into now?" Luke raised an eyebrow at him, as if asking how he knew that. "No matter what planet, what galaxy even…if there's trouble, they'll find it."

"The same could be said about you," Teal'c rasped, shooting the archaeologist a pointed look through heavily lidded eyes.

Daniel frowned for a moment before giving up and shrugging. "It's an acquired skill, and one you share."

"Indeed."

"Well…someone planted a bomb in the council chamber. They managed to get everyone else out, but they got caught at the edge of the blast. Thanks to the Force, they're still alive…by all rights they should have burned if they hadn't been killed by the explosion itself."

Daniel winced in sympathy. "But they're going to be okay, right?"

"They should be sent home in a few weeks."

"Have you told Corran yet?"

Luke shook his head no. "I've only just heard myself…I'll go find him now."

"You want me to do it?"

"No, you stay here with Teal'c…start thinking about what you're going to do when you get home…" Daniel frowned for a moment before his eyes widened and his eyebrows shot into his hairline.

"We're going home? Jack and Sam convinced the Inner Council to help?" Luke nodded and bade them goodbye.

As he walked through the temple, heading for the place where he could sense Corran's presence, he thought about how they had taken the news that their two friends had been seriously injured. It made him wonder about what they – and Sam – had been through, what they had seen and done to leave them with such a, outwardly blasé attitude towards it. They'd let go of a few bits of information when it was associated with the Goa'uld or during their first talk about it on the _Errant Venture,_ but he sensed that there was a lot more to their experiences than they were letting on.

He let it go, though…after all, if they were as bad as their attitudes and the brief stabs of pain, fear, terror, and panic that he occasionally sensed when they were talking about the Goa'uld suggested, then he couldn't blame them. It wasn't as if he talked openly and freely about his battles with Vader, his meetings with the Emperor, his forays into the dark side or a million other things to Leia or Mara, let alone people he'd only recently met.

* * *

Sam looked across at Jack, giving him a brief smile before using the Holochess table to lever herself to her feet. Although they were almost entirely healed, they were still weak and sudden movements or too much pressure started a dull ache in their myriad of broken bones. Mind you, if the timer on the bomb hadn't been off-set so that it was a minute out with the trigger, then neither of them would have been injured. It also answered the question of why the Force had prompted her to take Jack instead of Daniel…Daniel didn't have the same instincts that meant they had only been injured, not killed.

Seconds later, Han, Leia, and Chewbacca reappeared from the cockpit as the three children came racing in from their crash couches further back with Threepio tottering after them and calling for them to slow down.

"HEY! Would you stop that?" Sam ducked away from the affectionate tower of fur who had, for the millionth time, ruffled her hair in a Wookie gesture of affection. Dentralla had been beating herself up over her lack of fulfilling her life debt and had taken to ruffling her hair to show her apologies.

"I wouldn't worry, it suits you," Jack commented as he walked past her with a slight limp. "Gives you a…rakish air."

Sam glared at him and sauntered past. Her healing had been accelerated through the Force healing trance, so she suffered from no limp. She made a point of that as she strode ahead, following after the Solo's, who had gone ahead to speak to Luke and Mara.

"Show-off," he muttered as he met her, waiting at the top of the ramp.

"Yeah, your point being?"

Dentralla yowled at them to get a move on.

"Hey, the _Falcon_'s lasted this long, what makes you think it'll give out now?"

"I heard that!" Han's laughing voice floated up to them as they began to descend the ramp, Sam hovering at Jack's elbow in case he needed help. Apparently someone else replied for them as the voices drifted off.

"T, buddy, looking good!" The large black man was leaning heavily on Daniel, but he otherwise stood poker-straight, the barest shadow of the grin that was plastered across Daniel's face twitching his lips.

"As do you, O'Neill, SamCarter."

"Thanks Teal'c, Daniel," she gave the pair a hug.

"Sam! Aren't you going to say hello?"

"Corran, good to see you." Sam turned towards him, a large smile across her face.

"You look great, considering." He laughed as Sam hugged him too…he found it hard to get used to as before she had been very closed off, not prone to displays of emotion. He guessed that it was a hint of the person she had been before, shining through now only because she had been forced to reconcile her 'old' self and her 'new' self.

"That's Bacta for you…not a single scar."

"No, but the taste stays with you…it's all I taste when I eat." Jack's childish tone brought a smile to the lips of his friends who knew that if he was complaining then he would be okay, clichéd as it was.

"Come on Jack, it can't be that bad," Daniel announced as they wandered towards the Temple and the Solo-Skywalker family who were waiting for them there.

"Oh, it is," Sam told him with a grimace.

"You have no idea," Corran reiterated for him.

"Really?"

"Think Lucozade with too much salt, too much sugar and a huge dose of chalk and Benylin¹."

"Ouch," Daniel winced.

* * *

"Okay, as you all know, Wraith Squadron was called in for help on this one and they only just recently returned from their reconnaissance mission." They sat in one of the old amphitheatre briefing rooms, the same one in which Admiral Ackbar had briefed them on the attack on the Death Star. Wedge Antilles, one time commander of Rogue Squadron and General in the New Republic fleet, had been brought in as a favour to Luke. "For a change, they managed to pull this one off without being shot at, chased, threatened, or otherwise noticed, so we're happy that this has remained Top Secret." Wedge strode over to the holo display and brought up the Holo's of the system with the small planet that Telk's facility was on.

In orbit taking up a defensive formation were three Corvettes, two Assault Cruisers, and a large, slightly worse-for-wear ex-Katana Dreadnought; the same force that had come at them before.

Sam glanced sideways at Jack, who was looking at the holo's and listening intently. She didn't doubt that his mind was already in overdrive, churning over tactical possibilities and dismissing those that weren't viable, the processes running at lightspeed.

In the month since their return to Yavin, both had healed entirely and training with Corran or the combat droid had brought them back to their previous level of fitness after weeks of doing nothing but float in a tank or sleep. She listened to Wedge outline the plan for the space part of the battle…they would go in with one of their Star Destroyers, a dreadnought of their own, three or four assault cruisers, and two Corvettes. Wedge would be on the bridge of the Star Destroyer, temporarily taking the rank of Admiral at the Inner Council's behest, orchestrating the battle to try to force the enemy ships out of the system but destroying them if they had to. Something about the Inner Council's sudden eagerness to help and to reinstate Wedge as an Admiral for this made her uneasy. They were not known for their love of non-political military people and Wedge was right up at the top of that list, along with a few like Garm Bel Iblis, Admiral Ackbar, and the Jedi.

Sam was surprised out of her paranoid musings when Jack leaned toward her slightly, his hand resting on hers for a moment as he whispered to her. "Try not to confuse them with the techno-babble about the 'gate."

Something about that small gesture, so familiar, struck a chord in her and thrust a thought into the forefront of her brain, one she had been avoiding for a few weeks now. That small contact, something he'd done a million times in briefings or missions had reminded her of the faint realisation she'd had in the Inner Council chamber.

She couldn't _not_ care.

Force knows she'd tried; she didn't want to get hurt as she had so many times before.

But she quite simply couldn't stop caring, couldn't stop herself from even starting to care. About him, Daniel, Teal'c, Dentralla, Corran, Luke, Mara, Leia…everyone.

It wasn't some grand epiphany; a sudden awe-inspiring spiritual realisation…she just stopped avoiding the thought that was buried deep in her mind.

So she turned her hand over, took hold of his hand, and squeezed it lightly before leaning in and replying equally quietly, "They already know that. You, Daniel, Teal'c, and I are going to brief them on how to dial, a few safe planets, a little about the Goa'uld, and the ground attack plan." Jack stared at their clasped hands for a moment before looking at her in shock.

"We are? Why?"

The skin around Sam's eyes tightened visibly and the images of the dream she'd had flashed in her mind once again. "Call it a precaution." Jack nodded and remained silent as Wedge drew to a close before they disengaged their hands and stood, beckoning Daniel and Teal'c up with them.

"Welcome to 'Gate travel 101…"

* * *

Daniel yawned mightily and rubbed a hand over his face. It was around 1 am local time and they had only just finished the briefing, leaving the gathered members of the Jedi ground force, Han, Leia, and the two Wookies with the information to memorise over the next two weeks before their departure.

"I' 'onna 'o bed," he said through another yawn, shaking his head to dispel the sleepiness.

"As am I," Teal'c added with a bow of his head.

"Alright, I've got a few things that I need to see to here first," Sam said, shooting a flicker of a look at Jack.

"Yeah, there was something I wanted to ask Admiral Antilles, too; Night."

Teal'c and Daniel raised an eyebrow at each other but said nothing.

"Sleep well," Sam added as they left, receiving a sleepy wave.

"Ah, Admiral Antilles!" Jack called to the man who was currently crossing the room, focusing on the Datapad in his hands. Wedge grimaced at the title but looked up at them before changing direction.

"Please, call me Wedge," he told them, holding out a hand to shake.

"Alright, Wedge, I'm Jack," Jack shook the proffered hand, slightly surprised when Wedge turned to Sam and introduced himself, unnecessary though it was. "And I thought Sam knew everyone," Jack quipped.

"Not everyone, just most people. If you'll excuse me, I have to go see Luke." Sam turned to Jack and shot him a meaningful look. "I'll see you later." Jack nodded; more or less completely confused about what was going on with Sam. He then turned back to Wedge and launching into a question about the capabilities of their small fleet, wanting to know it as told by a seasoned officer as opposed to useless numbers as described by schematics and overly qualified techs.

By the time he had all of the answers that he needed – which were much more realistic than the statistics described – Sam had reappeared, apparently finished talking to Luke. Bidding a tired Wedge goodbye, they wandered off towards their rooms, chatting aimlessly and amicably. When they arrived, Sam nervously directed Jack into her room, closing the door behind them.

"Lomin Ale?" she asked, keying the cold store unit open. Jack nodded and she pulled out one for each of them before sitting on her bunk opposite him.

"Sam, what's up?" he asked, noticing her fiddling hands and tense posture.

Sam took a deep breath before starting speaking. _Force, I hate this emotional stuff,_ she thought. "I realised something today, something that's been nagging at me for a while now. Well, pretty much ever since the bomb in the Council chamber." Jack remained silent, realising that it would be easier for her if he just listened. "Ever since my Mom died, I've been afraid of caring about people, afraid of caring and then losing them. When…when Telk took me from that planet…that was the last straw. I cut everyone off, told myself that I couldn't care, couldn't get to know them, because it would just hurt me when they left or were taken. When I had to work for Terrell…people rarely lasted more than about three days, a few weeks if they were lucky. I was a different person, even when Luke got me out of there and Corran became my master, I pretended to care, and I guess I did, but not enough that it would be able to hurt me. I think Dentralla was the only person I came close to getting attached to.

"When you and Daniel and Teal'c came through the Stargate…you were the first people I'd seen in over six years that I cared about…that I loved. It sounds so callous, and it was so unfair on the people here, but they never really knew that I was ready to completely cut off all feelings for them in a second. At least that's what I thought. That's what I told myself, but if it ever came to the crunch I would have found that I'd been lying to myself all along. I realised that I can't stop myself from caring. I might get hurt in the long run, but I can't _not_ care."

Sam looked up at him then. Her eyes were dry, but her emotions were written all over her face. Jack stood swiftly and pulled her into a hug, the full weight of what she'd suffered impressing on him once again.

After a few long minutes, Sam finally pulled away slightly and looked up at Jack, a slight smile playing across her lips. "And if I'm going to care anyway…I might as well have fun." She reached up and pulled his head down for a soft kiss. The glass of Lomin Ale in his hand, which had been held so carefully until now slipped to the floor, caught millimetres from smashing from an unseen force. As Jack reciprocated passionately, it floated to the tabletop and landed beside another glass as they finally pulled apart.

"You sure?" Jack asked quietly, wanting to make absolute certain that he wouldn't hurt her after all that she had just said.

"Yeah," she replied happily. "Just, you know, take it slow."

"Sweet," Jack mumbled against her lips as he kissed her again.

* * *

¹ Lucozade is a funny orange, fizzy energy sports drink. Benylin is a really gross tasting cough medicine. 


	18. Assault

**Chapter 18 – Assault**

Hetarn turned to appraise the man stood in front of him. "Report."

"We think we have been successful in developing the formula you gave us and combining it with the-"

"You think?"

"We're ninety-nine percent certain, my Lord, but we had only the one subject to test it on and he was somewhat…broken by then."

A malicious smile crept onto the Goa'uld's face and his eyes flashed in appreciation and reflection. "Very well. Produce it en masse and distribute it to the troops…starting with those on the surface and working up to the fleet."

"Yes, my Lord."

"Hurry. We do not know when they will arrive; only that they will."

"Of course, my Lord."

"Go." Hetarn waved a hand haphazardly, the light reflecting off of the shiny metal of his hand device.

The man bowed, "My Lord," turned on his heel and left hurriedly.

* * *

Corran looked at Sam as she shifted from foot to foot, an odd expression on her face. She had, as usual, shut others off from sensing her feelings and emotions, but it didn't take a Jedi to see that she was bothered by something.

"Sam, please…will you at least tell me why you won't even consider it?"

"No, it's just…you have to trust me on this, Corran, training Jack to use the Force is NOT a good idea."

"Why not? It didn't stop you before."

"Oh please. That was a ten minute lesson to show him how do something that I'm pretty sure he does subconsciously anyway."

"I don't see why this is different…if he already uses the Force subconsciously then what's so bad about doing it consciously?" Corran was getting increasingly frustrated with Sam's question dodging and vague – but vehement – refusal of letting Jack be trained to use the Force. Jack's strength was minimal, to say the least…he was about on par with Tionne in that respect, but every iota of skill counted.

"You don't understand!" Sam told him, her voice rising slightly before she visibly bit back on her anger, controlling it.

"And I won't if you don't explain to me!"

"I…Jack is Special Forces trained…he's been ordered to do some damned distasteful things, he's seen more horrors that any person should ever have to, and he's been tortured more times than I care to count. He's a good man, and he acts so normally that you…you don't realise the darker side of him is even there until you see it for yourself. So much has happened to him, he has so many reasons to be angry, to hate, to be afraid…"

"And you don't want him to fall to the dark side." Sam nodded silently, her arms wrapped around herself in a pose he'd seen Daniel Jackson adopt countless times. "Let me tell you something, Sam; the first time I met you, I was struck by just how many of the darker emotions you harboured within you and just how few of the lighter ones there were, too. When I took you on as my apprentice, I was more than a little afraid that you would fall to the dark side. Even now, I don't know even half of what you've seen and suffered…but I know there's been a hell of a lot of it.

"I disagreed with Luke about training you, but I realised…well, I was persuaded that I was the best person to train you, not least because of your obviously military ties and your rare skill for energy absorption. I was wrong. The very fact that you'd managed to stay sane and to control yourself so well up to that point should have been an indication that you would be able to continue to do so. I'll admit that there were times when I thought I'd lost you but… we've all come close at one point or another."

Sam was scrutinising him closely, a slight frown creasing her forehead. "You're too insightful for your own damn good, Corran," she finally said, a slight smile turning the corners of her mouth. She couldn't deny the fact that, in all the years she'd known him, he'd never completely lost control. "I still don't see why I have to train him, though," she mock-groused.

"You said it yourself…'who the hell are we going to find that would be able to put up with the cynical, sarcastic, pain-in-the-ass'?" Sam snorted and raised an eyebrow. "Because you did so well teaching him starship mechanics?" he added with a grin.

"That's more like it." Sam was by no means completely certain that teaching Jack was the right thing to do, but she recognised both that he deserved the opportunity to prove himself and that they needed all the extra help they could get in two weeks' time. She also knew that she was the person who had the best hope for being able to teach him; she knew exactly how to deal with him.

"Come on; we've got to meet the teams that will be heading dirt-side with us."

Sam frowned. "Why?" she asked as she fell into step beside him.

"Well…they're seasoned professionals; the best that the NR has and, well…they are somewhat sceptical about the Jedi."

"And if this mission is going to work, they're going to need to trust us enough to follow orders without hesitation," Sam finished for him, nodding in understanding.

"I was going to say that they wouldn't be happy at being led by a mere Jedi Knight when Master Skywalker and ex-General Solo are going along, too, but there's that, too."

"Really? I though Luke would be in charge, not you." Sam looked at him questioningly.

"No, you are…we agreed that you had the most experience, you know the place best and you understand the Stargate thing best."

"Yeah, but you said a Jedi Knight; I'm only an apprentice."

"Did I? Sorry, must have been a slip of the tongue." Corran gave her his best innocent look as they marched towards the Grand Audience Chamber, where they were no doubt about to meet the new teams. Sam pondered this for a moment, staring unseeing at the rapidly approaching doors, her face creased in a frown.

"Corran, what are you up to? Corran? Corran!" The other Jedi barrelled on ahead, seemingly not hearing her, though she could sense his amusement through the Force.

When she reached the grand audience chamber, she saw Luke standing on the raised dais at the end, many of the Jedi gathered and stood watching him, obviously taking on a moment out of their busy preparations and training. The three men of SG-1 were there, too, standing at the back of the crowd, where she joined them, listening to Luke's little pep talk and welcoming of another new candidate – a Twi'lek called Ro'shaan.

"Finally, before you return to your previous tasks, I would like to make an announcement and a presentation." Sam idly wondered what he was talking about, pondering what Corran had just said. "Having displayed immense skill, responsibility, and having proved herself beyond all expectations…I am pleased to tell you that Sam Carter has earned and achieved the rank of Jedi Knight."

Sam didn't move for a moment, and it was only when Jack and Daniel gently pushed her forwards that she registered the fact that she was grinning massively and everyone as applauding her. "In honour of her Correllian Master and her…unique birthplace," only a few of the Jedi knew about the Stargate at this point…the less people knew the less chance of betrayal. "We have a very special token for her." Corran stepped forwards and presented her with a silver chain with small silver disc on it, vaguely reminiscent of Corran's own Jedi Medallions…a tradition of the Correllian Jedi. On it were embossed the symbols of the Jedi, and the 'Gate symbol of earth.

Still speechless, Sam nodded her thanks as she was reminded of another occasion, so many years ago when she had been promoted by surprise.

"You earned it," Corran told her, grinning from ear to ear.

"Thank you," she finally managed to say, her face lit up by a dazzling smile. Impulsively, she threw her arms around both Corran and Luke, earning a few good-natured wolf-whistles from the crowd.

"You better put my husband down before I get jealous," Mirax's smiling voice announced from behind Sam as she released the two Jedi and Luke dismissed the people gathered. "Congratulations," she added.

"Way to go, Sam," Daniel announced his arrival, along with Jack and Teal'c.

"I second that!" Jack commented, as Teal'c bowed deeply and smiled. Not one of his half-smiles, but a full-blown smile. Dentralla came barrelling up and enveloped her in a fierce hug, ruffling her hair affectionately.

They made their way to the war-room, where they'd held their previous briefing, chatting animatedly, pushing their worries and fears aside for the few minutes the trip took.

Their higher spirits were soon dampened as the group of eight specialist troops walked in; their movements crisp and concise without any of the mindless unison displayed by Stormtrooper and Jaffa alike. Five humans, a Bothan, a Twi'lek and a Kalix; all of them the best at what they did.

That fact alone made Sam more than a little curious and apprehensive. Why, after they had opposed it so thoroughly before, would Fey'lya and his cronies suddenly give in and even start to go that little bit extra for the mission?

Stepping forwards as Luke finished his introduction, Sam could feel all of them bristle at the realisation that they would not be lead by the Master. She sighed inwardly as she stepped up to the main area. Leia, Han, Mara, Luke, Chewie, Corran, Derren, and the two droids had all joined them for the brief.

"Now, I'm sure you've all been briefed a little on just what the mission is about, but I'm here to make sure that you all understand in depth exactly what will be happening once we're dirt side. This is also an opportunity to build trust between us. I know that there have been bad feelings about the Jedi, and that some people are nervous of the power that we hold, but if you don't trust me…or any of the others on this team, then this mission will fail before it even leaves the hangar." Sam could sense the slight, grudging appreciation for this coming from them but realised right away that it was going to be hard to convince them. "First things first…a clear chain of command. First and foremost, I am Team Leader. If I am incapacitated, command goes to Colonel Jack O'Neill…after that to Teal'c…beyond that to either the Solo's, the Skywalkers, or Corran Horn, and then to your Team Leaders. At any given point, no matter who is in command, the input of myself, O'Neill, Teal'c or Daniel Jackson is to be taken in, used and in no way doubted. Do you understand?"

"Would it not be better for General Solo or Master Skywalker to be in command?" The Bothan asked, ignoring Han's exclamation of 'EX-General!'

Sam gave him a feral grin, "Tell me…?"

"Kul'yer."

"Kul'yer…do you know how to wire up and manually dial a Stargate in the event that the DHD has been destroyed or removed? No…there are currently four people in this room with a working knowledge of the Stargate Network…Han Solo and Master Luke are _not_ among them."

"Aren't you about to teach us this?" the Kalix asked, supplying his name as Krix.

"Yes."

"So doesn't that mean they'll be just as qualified in that area?"

"Not when you account for the fact that they have no idea of how to tell if a person has become host to a Goa'uld. Nor do they know the tactical and strategic information that would leave them best equipped for dealing with one if they do encounter it…not to mention any of the hundreds of other threats that are out there." Krix nodded; the only indication of any emotion was the almost imperceptible twitch of on of his outrider 'ferrets', who were currently perched on his shoulders, long claws giving them access to his neural workings. This allowed him to give them commands and share information when they were in contact…a more than slightly advantageous development of their initial role as scouts for tribal Kalix hunters.

"Right, now I've been told that Colonel Krix is leader of Alpha team, whilst…Colonel Brinan Mey is CO team Beta?"

A tall man with long, shaggy, dark hair stepped forward and threw Sam a sloppy mock salute; the precise movements of his lanky limbs belying his outwardly scruffy appearance. "That's me. Majors Foy, Stent, and Pelari are also on Beta team." He gestured a short human male, a wiry-looking human female, and the green-skinned Twi'lek in turn before Krix introduced the remaining two female humans as Majors Gelk and Chom and the Bothan as Dit'yen.

"Right, now things will become clearer as we continue; you'll just have to trust that this arrangement is the best for now." Sam gave them all a look that quite plainly stated that she wouldn't take any crap from them. She then moved over to the holo-projector and keyed a code into the pad. "Now, this is a Stargate." She waved at the large holo that had just appeared. "Because of the importance of this mission, everyone in this room will be getting a little more than the basic Gate 101 that we gave the others involved…I assume you all read the data pads?" Her question was directed at the teams who had not been present for the previous briefing. "Glad to see you're so enthusiastic," she commented dryly at the few murmured affirmations she got.

"It's just so…" The petite blonde Chom shrugged and trailed off, leaving the comment open.

"Unbelievable?" Dit'yen supplied.

"Surreal?"

"Impossible!" Blue-haired and olive skinned, Major Gelk seemed adamant in her exclamation.

"Impossible, Major Gelk?" Sam asked, trying not to smirk.

"I'm the team's mechanics specialist…I know for a fact that there is nothing in the Galaxy that is possible of not only creating but stabilising and controlling a wormhole."

"That assumes that it was designed and built in this Galaxy," Sam replied easily, knowing that none of the really sensitive information had been added on to the encrypted datapads.

"And we all know what it is to assume," Jack couldn't help but add, not even trying to hide his own smirk. He was met by a crowd of non-plussed, curious faces. "What?"

"None of us know what it is to assume," Corran supplied for him, wondering at Sam and Daniel's bemused expressions.

"You don't?"

"Nope."

"I thought everyone knew that."

"Well, we're obviously not everyone."

"Right," Jack looked to his team mates for help, but all three of them took on innocently amused looks that told him he was on his own for this one. "Well, if you divide up the letters in assume you get 'ass', 'u' and 'me'." Once again, he was regarded with blank stares. "So…to assume makes an ass out of you…and me…still not getting it?"

"Nope."

"Really? 'Cause I'm thinking it's pretty easy."

Sam finally decided to put him out of his misery and explained a key detail to him. "Basic uses a different phonetic alphabet, Jack."

"I knew that," he replied quickly. "I was just…demonstrating both a difference, and a similarity between…our two galaxies…" Daniel snorted in amusement and hid his laughter behind his hand. Teal'c raised an eyebrow as the two Wookies in the room burst out into loud laughter; apparently sharing a joke that was funny only to the Wookie community.

"But there's no way to travel between two Galaxies…the expanse between would take centuries to navigate," commented the Twi'lek Pelari continuing as if Jack hadn't spoken at all.

Sam shot Jack a smirk before replying, "With your current technology; yes."

"You mean…this wormhole travels to other Galaxies?" Gelk asked, eyes wide.

"Of course…time and distance are of no consequence when travelling through a wormhole that essentially bends space." Brinan Mey's face lit up with a smile. "So you've actually been to another Galaxy?"

"Not quite," Sam replied, masking her grin as Mey's face fell. "We're from another galaxy."

"But you're human."

"You noticed, huh?"

"I am not," Teal'c informed them as the differences between the Jedi Knight Sam Carter that stood before him, dealing with these people and the Major Carter that he had known back on earth impressed themselves on him. Unlike Jack and, to a lesser extent, Daniel, he had not had much time to spend with her as he had been focussing on trying to solve the problem of his Tretonin dependency.

The Major Carter that he had known, despite showing an occasionally wicked and sarcastic sense of humour had been far more reserved and well spoken; never using the Earth equivalent of the curses that he had frequently heard falling from her mouth recently. It was strange to observe in that he recognised the similarities and the fact that she was essentially the same person, but the differences were there and hard to ignore. It was, however, highly unlikely, that she could go through what she had and remain unchanged. When he coupled that with the fact that he suspected she had withheld much of the harsher things that had happened to her from everyone around her, it was surprising that she had remained as 'normal' as she had. Perhaps that was why she reminded him of O'Neill sometimes…he knew that there were many things in the other man's life that had caused him to be so quiet, cynical and…so O'Neill.

"You're not?"

"Indeed. I am Jaffa," he raised an eyebrow, daring anyone to challenge him.

"While I'm sure Teal'c's heritage is simply _fascinating,_ there are other, more important things to be dealt with today," Sam interrupted them with a look that would have made lesser men tremble before continuing to explain some of the more basic science behind the way the gate worked.

Next, she brought up a holo of a DHD, with the small power-enhancing unit attached to the front. "Now, this is a DHD; a Dial Home Device. Normally, to dial a planet we'd need seven symbols: six co-ordinates and a point of origin." Moving to the holo-projector, she deftly began to manipulate the image, drawing a 3D box and adding the six points joined together in pairs. "Now, as you all know, any point in space needs six co-ordinates to pinpoint it exactly." She received murmurs of agreement; this was basic navigation to them. She added a seventh point, a little way out from the box and linked it the central point of the other six co-ordinates by a long line. "To travel to any place, you need to know where you're starting from; the seventh symbol is a point of origin." Again, a round of agreement and understanding. This time, Sam added an eight point to the hologram, extending the line away from the original point of origin. "For our purposes, we're going to need an eighth symbol to add an extra distance calculation to the address to account for the fact that this Galaxy is so far from ours. On the datapads in front of you is a list of addresses that you need to memorise as a back-up plan in case anything goes wrong, along with a lot of other, important information." The people picked up the datapads and began looking over them. "At the top of the list is the address for Earth – my home planet – in both the eight- and seven-symbol format. Earth's gate is protected by a Trinium alloy iris that will require a code to get through; which we will provide you all with. However, the only iris code that we have is the one issued to SG-1 before they came through several months ago, so we don't know whether it will still be active. To this end, we'll be taking radios along with us to talk to General Hammond at the other end before we travel through…yes, Colonel Krix?"

The bulky Kalix tilted his head to one side, asking; "What happens if we go through without having this Iris open? Will we be bounced back through the wormhole?"

"Ah, no." Sam grimaced in recollection of the ominous sound that she associated with the thoughts. "You will simply fail to rematerialise at the other end. The iris is set less than a millimetre from the event horizon, making it impossible for the matter stream to re-materialise and leaving your molecules scattered."

"So you'd die?" Chom asked bluntly

"Yes."

"Now why couldn't you have said that to begin with?" Han exclaimed, rolling his eyes.

"When you say radios…?" Mara asked, smirking at Han's impatience.

"They're kind of like comlinks, but they work using a different wavelength and frequency of radio waves," Sam explained. "We're going to rig the comlinks to allow us to switch to match the SGC frequencies."

"We?" Luke asked inquisitively.

"Jack and I."

"You and Jack…?" Han interrupted dubiously, obviously not believing her.

"You people really should stop falling for his dumb act," Sam told him, exasperatedly. "He would never have made Colonel if he didn't have a degree."

"What's a degree?"

" A qualification that requires a certain – very hard - amount of work on a specific subject. Jack's, for instance, is in Physics."

"Jack has a degree in physics?" Daniel asked incredulously.

"Why is that so hard to believe?" Jack replied petulantly, the look in his eyes showing that he enjoyed seeing Daniel so dumbfounded for a change.

"I just always thought it would be in…Advanced Sarcasm and Warfare or something."

A melee of sounds erupted from the people gathered; the equivalent of a crowd of laughter, making Jack bristle.

"No Daniel; that's my PhD."

"Enough!" Sam's harsh tone contrasted with the humour displayed on her face as the two men stopped their bickering and turned back to her sheepishly.

Sam knew enough of the people gathered well enough to know that they were starting to get antsy and a glance at her chrono confirmed that it was dinnertime. "That's it for today, I think. Go get some dinner and rest and be back here bright and early at 0800 tomorrow morning. Dismissed." Sam had unconsciously fallen back to the military training in dismissing the people gathered and was slightly surprised when Colonel Krix sent her a salute. She raised two fingers to her temple in a sloppy almost salute and nodded to him, faintly hearing Jack tell Dentralla, Daniel, and Teal'c that they'd meet them in the mess hall shortly but he had a question for her.

Shutting down the holo-projector, the side of Sam's mind that passively monitored the area around her in a paranoid habit that had saved her life on many occasions, Sam subconsciously noticed that only she and Jack were still in the room. Any information gained from that passive observation was only thrust into her consciousness when she sensed danger, so it came as a surprise to her when she felt Jack's arms slip around her from behind, embracing her as she reached for the datachip. Smiling and slipping the chip into her jacket, she half turned and shared a kiss with him.

"I take it you didn't actually have a question then?"

"Well, seeing as we were going to take it slow and not broadcast it to everyone…"

"Right," Sam paused a little and must have frowned because Jack's smile slipped.

"What?"

"It's just…" This was a little more difficult than she expected. "Well, I was talking to Corran earlier and…he wants me to train you."

"I thought you already were."

"No…I mean train you in the Force."

"Oh. _Oh!_ I thought I wasn't 'strong' enough."

"Only just; much like Tionne."

"Well, that's good isn't it…it will be useful, right."

"Yeah."

"But? I'm sensing a but here."

"It's just…"

"What? You don't think you can? C'mon, Sam, you taught me how to fix Doohickeys that make ships fly."

"It's not that."

"Then what, Sam?"

"I don't want to risk losing you to the Dark side."

Jack nodded slowly, recalling what she had said about the Dark Side before. "Why am I so different to anyone else?"

"Don't kid yourself, Jack, we both know that you aren't a saint," she told him bluntly.

"Neither are you," he shot back savagely, wincing as soon as the words left his mouth. "Sorry I-"

"No, you're right." She sighed and looked away again, adopting the self-hugging pose that he'd first seen her use after Daniel 'died'. At the time he'd thought it was a subconscious way of keeping a little bit of Daniel alive, but he later realised it was just as much to comfort herself when she remembered the things that haunted her the most. "You're right, and you don't even know the half of it. Just as I don't even know the half of what you've seen and done."

"So why am I different?"

"You're not, I guess. But then…" She searched her mind for an example before settling on one. "Do you remember K'Tau? The planet where we 'gated in through their sun and caused the sky to shift to the red end of the spectrum?"

"How could I forget?"

"When you went after the man...I forget his name…the one who ordered the destruction of the rocket, you nearly lost it. I remember being faintly shocked at the time; I couldn't understand what could drive someone to kill like that. It was different to killing someone in battle…that was murder."

"But I didn't, though."

"No…but it was close."

Jack was growing increasingly annoyed with Sam, but, mindful of what she'd said about the Dark Side, he consciously fought it down. "Are you trying to tell me that you've never had a moment of rage like that?" He saw her flinch and took her silence as an affirmation. "Maybe I'm not perfect; maybe I do over-react a little occasionally, but you can't tell me that any one of the people here hasn't had a brush with 'darkness'." He paused for a long moment before walking over to Sam and making her turn back to face him. "Please, Sam; just trust me."

Sam saw the sincerity and resolve in his eyes, the warm touch of his hand on her arm a comforting reassurance. She nodded eventually. "You do realise that this means a whole helluva lot of training, right?"

"It can't be any harder than basic, can it?" Sam grinned and turned around, marching off towards the mess hall. "Sam? SAM!"

"Come on; I'm hungry."

"Oy."

* * *

Sam allowed a small smile to form on her face at the sight of Jack O'Neill grinning like a small boy having only just opened his eyes to the sight of the blade of his M9 Bayonet held just a fraction of a millimetre from the surface of Sam's arm.

They were sat in a living room in a disused section of the crew quarters aboard a New Republic Star Destroyer, en route to the small planet where the Stargate was. The exercise involved using the Force to sense the layers of depth around her arm and – with eyes closed – move his hand in so that the blade stopped just short of touching her. It was a level up from the basic routine of doing it with a small stone; the extra length and the fact that it was a sharp blade adding a dimension to it that increased fine control.

"Sweet," he commented, re-holstering the black-bladed military issue knife.

"I know. You're doing well; you've learned a lot in only two weeks."

"Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks?" Sam snorted and rolled her eyes at him, rising from her cross-legged position without using her hands to push off. "Show-off," Jack mumbled as he pushed himself up, suddenly putting his head to one side. "Someone's coming." As if to prove his statement, the door chime sounded.

"Now who's the show-off?" Sam asked as she waved a hand, keying the door open.

"Fey'lya," Jack's voice managed to combine both surprise and the specific tone that he usually saved for Kinsey – a mix of contempt, hatred, disgust and a myriad of other negative emotions too numerous to list.

"Mister O'Neill. Jedi Carter."

"Actually, that's _Jedi Apprentice _O'Neill," Jack told him smugly.

"I'm sure. Jedi Carter, I just wanted to wish you good luck before you leave. I'm sure you are aware of the significance and importance of this mission to the New Republic."

"Of course; no-one wants slave trading abolished as much as I do."

"What? Oh yes…I was of course referring to the good that obtaining pieces of technology such as a sarcophagus could do."

"A sarcophagus? Are you kidding? Those things are far from good; they corrupt people and they're addi-"

"I think you will find that it is best to leave these evaluations to qualified specialists, _Mister_ O'Neill." Jack took a step forwards, hands clenched into fists as he pushed his anger away, but he stepped short when the security guard at Fey'lya's side snapped his rifle up to point at Jack.

"I think you'll find I am more than qualified." He growled through clenched teeth.

"You base this on the fact that you have been healed in one?" Contempt was clearly evident in Fey'lya's voice and his fur rippled in disgust.

Jack took a deep breath, blowing it out through his mouth and releasing his anger with it. He was acutely aware of the fact that Sam was stood only inches away, remaining silent to see how he would cope with it. "Do you have any idea what it feels like to be tortured? To die? Slowly and painfully; giving in to the bliss of death only to be brought back to life to go through it again, losing a bit of your soul each time?"

Fey'lya snorted. "It is one thing to be healed, but it is entirely impossible to be brought back to life."

Jack glared at the Bothan for a moment before turning away, muttering, "Yeah, that's what I thought," as he stalked into the sleeping room.

"Get out."

"Jedi C-"

"You are not welcome here; now kindly get out before I throw you out," Sam ordered him calmly but with a steel to her voice that was unbreakable.

"Very well. Do not fail," he threatened as he turned and left.

Mentally giving him the finger, Sam turned on her heel and went after Jack, sitting on the edge of the bed beside him. "You okay?"

"No, but I will be."

Sam had been more than a little surprised at his openness about it but accepted that something must have happened to change him in the last few years. She nodded slightly before glancing at her wrist chrono. "You up for sorting out the modifications to Threepio and Artoo before one final check?" She knew that neither of them were going to get a wink of sleep within the few hours it would take to reach their destination. She also knew that they needed to get it done, though it was only a few minutes to give the two droids an extra transmitter and programme in the iris code; they'd had everything else necessary uploaded into their systems at the Academy.

She also knew that Dentralla would be in the hanger, doing a final check of the systems in the Troop Transport they would be taking to the surface. Both the Wookie and the Human had been more than a little busy and pre-occupied over the last week and hadn't seen much of each other. That, coupled with Dentralla's continuing guilt over letting her get injured on Coruscant had meant that she was missing the over-grown teddy bear.

"Sure," he told her, leaping to his feet with too much gusto and false bravado to cover the morbid mood that had arisen over the memory of torture.

Sam rolled her eyes and stepped out after him, nudging him playfully with her shoulder in an attempt to lighten his mood.

He nudged her back, a bubble of amusement rising in him.

_What was wrong with being childish every now and then_? He thought as they carried on out of the door and down the corridor, ignoring the bewildered looks of passing crewmen.

* * *

A vibration ran through the ship as they decelerated from hyperspace and Sam immediately brought the last of the Troop transports' systems online and followed Rogue Squadron out of the hangar. It seemed that having Fey'lya overseeing the mission had the added bonus of working with the best the New Republic had to offer.

Onboard her ship were – along with Alpha team – Dentralla, Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, and Corran. Luke, Leia, Mara, Derren, and Beta team had taken the other transport with Han and Chewie.

In no time at all, the space around the ships was a roiling mass of flashes and explosions…eerily silent to the people in the two troop ships as they skirted the action, heading straight for the planet's surface and the facility they knew was down there.

Leaving the battle behind them and focusing on the task ahead of them, they made their way steadily dirtside, gunning the engines of the bulky transports for all they were worth. Within twenty minutes of leaving the hangar, they had landed, the battle still blazing above them, but they remained thankfully unnoticed.

Something was giving Sam an uneasy feeling, though, and she remained on edge as she followed Jack, Daniel, Corran, Teal'c and Dentralla out of the cockpit and down the ramp. Alpha team had taken up position; weapons raised and ready to defend them.

A few minutes later and the Solo-Skywalker task force – droids and all - appeared, Derren calmly standing in their midst as Beta team took similar positions to Alpha team. Sam caught a faint trace of something strange at the edge of her senses, coming from the other ship, but on closer inspection she found nothing and dismissed it.

All of the Jedi had their senses stretched to full, but they couldn't sense any danger or any people within any significant distance.

"Did that seem a little too easy?" Corran asked, eyeing the walls suspiciously.

"Oh, you don't need the Force to tell you that." Jack was on edge too…something wasn't right here. Sam unclipped the safety on her holster and took one Lightsaber out of its custom-made holster, her thumb hovering over the activation switch.

"Daniel, Teal'c, I want you with Beta team. You know what to look for." Teal'c raised an eyebrow but didn't comment while Daniel grimaced and wondered what had given her reason to suspect a Goa'uld. Sam just hoped that she was being paranoid. "Luke, you take the Command centre; we'll head for the 'gate room and make sure no-one gets out that way."

"Everyone got a GDO?" Everyone nodded or affirmed that they had one of the devices that Sam and Jack had modified to send an identical signature to SG-1's last iris code…hopefully the SGC would open the iris when they recognised the code.

"Good," Jack finished, nodding to Sam.

"Right." She gave them all a 'here goes nothing' look. "May the Force be with you. Move out!" The two 'civilian' groups moved towards the large blast doors; Alpha team flanking the right, Beta team flanking the left.

Artoo whistled a warble and cheerfully whirred ahead, slotting himself into the interface port.

"Artoo, do be careful; last time you tried this, you plugged yourself into a power socket." The small astromech warbled a reply that sounded distinctly like an electronic raspberry. "What do you mean you've done this plenty of times since then?" Another warble. "Well yes, I know that but-" Artoo cut him off with a triumphant warble and the large doors began to rumble upwards and into the ceiling.

The two teams filed out silently and they started their stealthy jog through the dark corridors, continually on the lookout.

Something wasn't quite right, and she knew that Jack felt it too…she could sense his limited and diffuse Force awareness at the edge of her mind. He was a comforting presence, and it made her feel better to know that he had their six.

They were getting close to the 'Gate room when everything started to fall apart. Sam's danger sense suddenly flared, calling for attention as she poked her head around a corner…to find a squad of troopers waiting for her. She turned and signalled to run the other way only to find that a second squad had descended to block their way after them, leaving them trapped.

"Stang!" she muttered as the disembodied voice of the Stormtrooper squad leader rang out.

"Lay down your weapons. You are surrounded. Lay down all weapons and kick them away." Lights flared to life the white gleam of Stormtrooper armour was suddenly everywhere, almost blinding in its brilliance.

She nodded tersely to the rest of the team, laying down her blaster and Lightsaber and kicking them away.

Why couldn't she sense them?


	19. Betrayal

**Chapter 19 – Betrayal**

Sam's eyes darted around the corridor; searching for a way out, even though she knew that it was an exercise in futility. Her hands had been bound behind her back, secured by a solid set of Imperial issue binders, as were the hands of every other person in her group. She'd had to calm Dentralla, persuading her that their best chance of getting out of here was to wait. The enraged Wookie had eventually subsided, though she continued to growl darkly.

She had tried to use the Force to keep the binders open just a fraction, allowing her to make her escape when she could, but she had found that the Stormtroopers must have been warned about. The trooper, on realising that he couldn't quite secure the binders had cuffed her, making her see spots for a moment.

She also knew that Corran would have tried to make them believe that they had secured them when they actually hadn't, putting the image into their brains, but when they didn't seem to exist in the Force, it was impossible to do.

The feeling of not being able to sense them was almost identical to that of the ysalimiri and yet different. Instead of being a bubble of anti-Force, it was as if the bubble had been moulded to their bodies, blocking only the beings inside the armour and none of the space around them.

Glancing at Jack, who was being marched along beside her, the rest of the group in pairs behind them, Sam met his gaze and sent him an apologetic look, berating herself for letting them get caught. At the same time, she sensed that he – and, for that matter everyone else in the group – was doing the same.

After a few minutes of being marched through bland corridors, they were led through a large set of double doors and into a fairly lavishly decorated room.

"Aw, crap!" Jack muttered as he took in the décor, a sinking feeling settling in his stomach.

"Wow, this is even tacky for a Hutt," Corran commented.

Jack shrugged, "For a Goa'uld, this is subtle."

"Ouch-"

"SILENCE!" Jack and Sam's fears were confirmed when they reached the room only to have a deep, inhuman voice bellow at them, its tone somewhere between amused, gleeful, and just slightly irritated.

Their hearts dropped like stones as another set of figures were revealed, already bound, guarded, and kneeling in the centre of the large room.

Daniel and Teal'c were at the front of the room, kneeling side by side, with the Solo-Skywalker clan lined up behind them and Beta team behind them and Threepio and Artoo at the back with restraining bolts firmly in place.

Sam and Jack were lead up, next to Daniel and Teal'c whilst the rest were lined up in their own respective groups.

An imposing figure, dressed in a gold-decked version of the Imperial uniform stepped down off of a dais, hands clasped behind his back as he strutted forwards. His eyes glowed red for a moment. _Red_? Sam didn't have time to muse on why they were red as he started to speak and she found her attention diverted.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the infamous SG-1…" he stepped up to Sam and grabbed her chin. "Re-united at last with the missing Major Carter." Sam glared at him, her skin crawling where his barely blue tinged skin touched hers.

"Hey, you leave her alone!" Jack exclaimed, anger bubbling inside him.

"Ah yes…Colonel Jack O'Neill…" he continued, releasing Sam and stepping away from her. "The Shol'va Teal'c…and of course the tenacious Daniel Jackson. Many times have the system lords tried to kill you, only to have you escape from their grasp."

"We're just slippery like that." Jack commented darkly.

"The system lords are fools; they underestimated the tenacity of the human race; something that I will not do. Bring me their belongings." A young lieutenant stepped forwards, leading a few Stormtroopers who carried all of their weapons, comlinks, GDO's and the like.

Stepping forwards, he grabbed a small, silver cylinder, holding it out in front of him and pressing the activator. "Ah, the Jedi Lightsaber." He spoke with a tone of interest and curiosity as the long, violet blade shot out, humming as he swished it through the air. "An ingenious weapon indeed…it can cut through any substance known to this Galaxy…"

_Except Cortosis Ore,_ Sam thought, somehow relieved that he had not yet discovered the ore.

It was disconcerting for the Jedi in the room to see, and sense the Lightsaber but not be able to sense the person wielding it.

"Now…on to more pressing issues." The Goa'uld shut down the Lightsaber and moved back to exchange it for a small, black box. A GDO. "Tell me the code to penetrate the defences on Earth."

"No." Sam told him, hoping that if he knew her to be in charge of the mission he would interrogate her. She made her reassurance detectable to the other Jedi, sensing a minute amount of deception, and something hidden in the other Jedi before she slammed her mental barriers up. They would not be able to detect her pain. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jack look sharply at her. She had accounted his unusual silence in the situation to either a change in his character over the last six years, or his concentration on using the Force.

"No? You dare to defy your God?"

"Hate to break it to you buddy, but you ain't no God." Sam silently cursed Han for his words.

"I was not addressing you, Solo," the Goa'uld bit back, waving a hand at a guard. "Kill him."

"No!" Leia yelled as the shot rang out, hitting him square in the chest. Chewie's enraged yell was punctuation to the sound of his body hitting the floor. Sam didn't turn around, merely glaring at the Goa'uld as she heard Luke try to placate the large Wookie, probably holding him in place with the Force.

Allow herself a brief contact with the Force, she found that Mara was holding the furious Dentralla in place, reminding her that they had a better chance for escape if more of them were alive. All of their grief was surrounding her as she heard the sounds of the body being dragged away. She slammed her barriers back up; if they were taking him away then the chances were that they were going to put him in a sarcophagus. If they had one. Hopefully.

"What is the code?"

"Go kiss a Hutt."

"Perhaps you need to be reminded of the power I have over you," he snarled, standing before her and raising his hand device. Sam briefly registered that it was different before she was enveloped in a wave of pain and heat. Tapping the Force, she numbed the pain and bled off the heat, though the damage was still visible in the bubbling and blistering skin of her forehead. "The code?"

Sam remained silent, glaring at him with a sadistic smile and suffocating the spark of her anger. "Never."

"Perhaps if it is one of your friends who suffers…"

"We won't tell you. We've resisted the hand device before and we'll do it again," Jack cut in bluntly, receiving only a blast with the hand device. Seeing that although the device was working as it should they were unlikely to give in to it before it killed them Hetarn, decided to change tact.

"Very well…" He turned and caught sight of Sam's Lightsaber. "It is fitting, don't you think, that we use the Jedi's weapons against them?" He activated it once again and stepped up to Sam, who glared at him, her lips curled in distaste.

In one quick move, he jabbed the tip of the blade through her right shoulder, holding it there for a moment before pulling it out. Having already used the Force to dull her nerves as much as she could, Sam managed to keep herself from wincing too much. Behind her, she heard Dentralla roar in rage and try to rise, apparently not making it and receiving a shot. She didn't dare turn and look, or show any signs of concern, nor would allow herself to use the Force to see; afraid that the others would be exposed to her pain, but she could hear Dentralla's continued grumbling and surmised that it was a warning shot. "Interesting," he said, putting his head to one side. "I'd heard that the Jedi could resist pain…of the physical kind at any rate. Tell me…who of your friends is to suffer first?"

Sam remained silent, glaring at him unflinchingly. Before he could act, an unknown man – a captain by the looks of it – came bustling in and bowed down in front of him before stepping close to him and telling him something.

Hetarn's eyes flashed red again. "What?" His face was a mask of anger and he reached out a hand to send a wave through the device, sending the young man careening against the far wall. "We will continue this later. Put them in room one." He stalked out of the room without a backward look at them as their guards moved forward to escort them away.

As soon as they arrived at 'room one,' Sam knew where they were. The room was filled with the echoes of pain and fear, a feeling that Sam knew far too well. This was the room that Telk had held them in after they had been brought through the 'Gate but before they had been given a basic immunity jab and a designated number with corresponding slave implant. They were lucky if they survived the jab, implantation, and tattooing process, though Sam had often wondered if she wouldn't have been better off if she'd died then and not had to suffer.

As soon as they door had shut behind them, echoing through the large room, all eyes had turned to Sam, dropping the façade of indifference.

Sam, however, didn't notice as she moved first to Jack's side, receiving a nod from him as he eased himself to the floor and then to Dentralla.

"'Tralla, you okay?" she asked the Wookie, who waved her off grumpily, cradling her left arm against her body, mirroring Sam's cradling of her right arm. At Dentralla's insistent questioning, she gave a one-armed shrug. "It's nothing."

"Nothing?" Corran asked incredulously.

"Corran, it's not even bleeding. Krix, your two outriders are alright?"

"Yes. Pik is a little singed…he didn't have time to warn us about the troopers."

"It's okay. Everyone else?"

"More or less. We're losing Kul'yer though. He took a shot to the side. With Bothan physiology…"

"Is he in pain?" Krix shook his head in an adopted human gesture. "Make him as comfortable as possible." Sam walked over to Luke, Mara, Leia, Corran, and Chewie. Derren had retreated to one corner by himself. Sam had noticed that there was something strange about him, but she had hardly spoken to him at all in the last few weeks.

Leia had tears streaming down her face as Luke held her and comforted her, an immense sadness evident on the faces of the others gathered. Chewie was shaking with rage but staying uncommonly quiet, and Sam considered telling them that there was hope for Han but decided against it. Just in case…there was no need to get their hopes up. Quietly informing them of what had happened and how they stood, she suggested that they take a corner and rest…no doubt they had a few bruises of their own.

Once again, she sensed that slight air of, not so much deception, but…misinformation but dismissed it as it was the wrong time and trusting that they would let her know if it was something significant.

Ordering the others to get as much rest as they could as well, Sam joined Daniel, Jack, and Teal'c in the corner nearest the door.

"How're you doing?" Daniel asked her, his eyes flicking to her injured shoulder.

"Okay. You?" She could see evidence of the ribbon device having been used on them, as well as faint traces on others in their group.

"We'll be okay. Hetarn – the Goa'uld - wasn't trying too hard with any of us. I think he was passing time until the rest of you arrived."

"He seemed to have an uncanny knowledge of what was going on," Teal'c added.

"Great, just what we need." Jack's voice was weak, and his head was rested against the cool wall behind him.

"You guys go get some rest; I'm going to put Jack into a healing trance." Sam sent them a significant look. They all knew he'd been under the influence of the hand device longest and without the aid that Sam's superior strength and skill in the Force, they knew that the pain would be immense. Getting up and moving away, they sent Sam silent looks of sympathy, which she studiously ignored.

Jack opened one eye and squinted at her. "You're not looking so great yourself."

"I'll live." For all of his apparent nonchalance, Sam could see the concern in his eyes. "I'll use the Force to heal after I put you under. You need to pick something to wake you up with, a key word, or phrase that isn't in common use."

Jack regarded her dubiously for a moment as if trying to read her mind to see whether she actually would heal herself, but her barriers were still up and he couldn't find a way in with his limited experience. "Right." He paused for a moment, thinking before giving her a small smile. "What about the name of someone who's very important to me?"

"Sure," Sam replied, raising an eyebrow dubiously.

"Homer."

Sam snorted, remembering a time when that had been one of the first things he remembered. "Homer it is then." She moved to his right and knelt beside him, gingerly taking his left hand in her right and placing her left hand across his forehead, using the Force to put him into a healing trance.

She felt his grip on her hand loosen as he went under, his whole body relaxing, although he didn't let go entirely.

Moving gingerly, Sam sat on his right, cradling her right arm across her body and still holding onto his left.

She wasn't in a situation where she could put herself into a healing trance, but she could sleep, safe in the knowledge that there were people keeping watch.

* * *

Daniel looked across at the two still figures of his friends. It had been only a few hours since they'd been left here, but they'd been out for most of that time.

"Six years ago, to see them sitting like that would have been a feat in itself." Daniel mused out loud to Teal'c.

Teal'c opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, the large door began to open. Before anyone could move, the sounds of a fight could be heard, accompanied by a few gurgles that were instantly recognisable to some members of the team as the sound of a person having their throat cut.

"Han!" Luke and Leia's unmistakable surprise was soon answered by the cheery grin of the ex-smuggler. Leia rose and threw herself at him, embracing him and sharing a passionate kiss with him.

"Come on, we've gotta go."

"How did you-"

"Later, kid," Han cut Daniel off, gesturing for them all to get moving. Sam had woken up at the commotion and turned to Jack, muttering 'Homer' in his ear and waiting for him to wake up.

"Right, we need weapons, and the droids." Sam began, receiving a nod from Han.

"Already on it," he informed her as everyone gathered at the doorway. "They should be back any minute now."

"Who?"

"The Noghri."

"What Noghri?

"Leia's Noghri."

"Le- you should have told me," Sam informed him angrily, giving the Solo's, Skywalkers, and Corran a heartfelt glare.

"Sam now is not the time," Luke warned her as she pushed out to take point as the other two of the four Noghri appeared silently around the corner, dishing out weapons and gear and waiting for Mara to deftly slice off the restringing bolts on the two droids.

"Oh, I am pleased to see you're all well, Master Luke, and Master Solo, why, I thought you were dead!" Threepio was talking a mile a minute as they all prepped themselves and regained their weapons.

"I was, Goldenrod, but I'm back now."

"Alright," Sam interrupted them. "Let's go; and keep it quiet. Krix…" The Kalix Colonel nodded and sent his two outrider ferrets scampering down his body and along the corridor. Within a few moments, they'd returned, downloading the information into Krix's neural pathways.

"Next two corridors are clear." As one, they moved out with Jack and Teal'c taking point and Gelk and Chom bringing up the rear with the two Skywalkers. Sam accompanied those taking point; ready with her Lightsaber. They'd learned that they couldn't rely on the Jedi to sense any enemies up ahead, but the Jedi were still the best fighters and defenders they had.

They continued that way as they made their way through the corridors, always heading towards the 'Gate, knowing that it would be less well defended than the ships.

When they reached the doors to the gate room, Sam motioned silently for half to go one side, and half the other side of the door as Artoo slotted himself into the interface and worked on opening the doors.

As soon as the doors opened, Corran, Luke, and Mara streamed in, instantly deflecting the blaster bolts that zipped their way and leaving the others free to come behind them and take out the shooters that they were unable to sense.

Sam stood back a little, reaching out with the Force as the others took out the Stormtroopers. Reaching out with her left hand, she pressed the air in front of her eight times, each corresponding to the space on the DHD where she knew the symbols to be. Reaching with the Force one last time, she used it to depress the large orange dialling button, the Kawoosh of the Stargate event horizon whirling into view.

Just as she was about to call out to Artoo to send the signal, hoping for a quick getaway, her danger sense tingled and she ducked and rolled forwards, bringing her Lightsaber to bear.

"Derren?" she asked in surprise, deflecting a stray blaster bolt slightly clumsily.

His eyes flashed as he advanced on her suddenly, forcing her back towards the 'gate.

"That is the name of my host." The man who used to be Derren sneered at her. "This would have been so much simpler if you had given me the codes for the Earth Iris as well as the other Jedi."

All the while, Sam found herself being steadily pushed towards the 'gate. Had she been uninjured then she had no doubt that she would have been able to defeat the Derren-Impostor within a matter of minutes. As it was, her injured shoulder had left her unable to wield her Lightsaber properly and the pain was stopping her from being able to concentrate properly.

Feeling her feet knock against the back of the steps onto the raised dais where they Stargate stood, Sam felt an idea formulate in her mind. Leaping backwards and flipping, she landed slightly clumsily on the top step, meaning that not-Derren was forced to follow her up there. She simultaneously became vaguely aware that the battle below had finished and that someone had called her name.

"But that would take all the fun out of it," Sam retorted breathlessly.

Derren leapt up to land beside her in a sloppy move that left him open to attack. Pivoting on her left foot, Sam brought her right foot around kicked him firmly in the chest, using the Force to add momentum to it as he staggered backwards, falling through the Stargate only to thud against the closed iris.

At least, that was what she had intended, but she found her foot caught in an iron grip.

Her mouth formed a surprised 'Oh' as she was dragged through the 'gate with him.

The remaining group stared, horrified at the 'gate, knowing that no one had sent the iris code, and that no one had contacted Hammond on the other end.

A burst of fire from the door they'd entered from announced the arrival of more Stormtroopers and the loss of some of their own and Jack found himself bursting into action. "Send the code and get the radio going. Grab the wounded and head for the 'Gate. Jedi, give us cover!" He was dimly aware of a large, hairy form running up, and through the 'gate but he'd been unable to stop Dentralla.

* * *

"Un-scheduled off-world activation."

Hammond looked away from the Tok'ra representative, wondering who it might be. There were no teams scheduled back any time soon and the only team MIA was SG-1, who had been gone for months. For the first time in about 12 years, he had actually given up hope of his star team returning at all.

Pushing himself out of his chair, he made his way down to the control room as fast as his portly, ageing body could manage, the Tok'ra all but forgotten.

"Sergeant?"

"We're not re- wait. Receiving an IDC now, Sir. Its…SG-1!"

Hammond – now a three star General – stared out of the window at the closed iris, debating whether or not to open it. For all he knew, it could be that they'd been tortured for the entire time they'd been missing and only now had they given in. He also knew that they would die first. But there were other ways of finding these things out. They would radio if it was them. But they might not have a radio.

Hammond debated this out with himself in a matter of seconds, coming to a decision in no time.

"Open the iris." He moved over to a phone and ordered a triple-strength defence team down there.

All eyes were on the rippling event horizon, waiting to see who would come through. They waited for several long minutes before the shimmering puddle rippled and a figure fell backwards through, clutching on to the foot of a second person and pulling them through.

"Hold your fire," he couldn't be sure whether or not the first figure was one of his team, though he knew for certain that the second figure was not. The second figure was unmistakably female. Something none of SG-1 were. Anymore.

Those gathered watched in fascination as the two landed, and seemed to realise something, springing to their feet within split seconds. The second – female – figure had her back to him and he saw that the second was not anyone he recognised, but he was still reluctant to open fire unless he knew that they would not come quietly. Moving to the microphone, he was surprised and mesmerised when they both raised silver cylinders and activated them, revealing what he could only describe as 'laser swords'. One was a vivid violet, the other a muted red.

He watched in fascination as they thrust and parried; the woman obviously weak in the right arm, her blocks getting slower and slower as the man battered away at her relentlessly.

The woman suddenly shifted and flipped backward off of the ramp and onto the floor below, the SF's shifting their weapons to track them.

The man's swing narrowly missed her, instead slicing into the lighted panels that lined the ramp and causing them to flicker and spark. The man growled angrily and, Hammond noticed with horror, his eyes flashed, making the SF's tense. "Hold your fire," he ordered, not wanting to risk the woman until they knew more.

_The enemy of my enemy is my friend,_ the old adage sprung into his mind, though he knew that it was often not true.

His attention was snapped back towards the 'gate as it rippled again and a tall, weapon bearing, hairy biped came dashing through, skidding to a halt at the sight of all the people, eyes obviously scanning for something.

Surprised and apprehensive, the SF's tensed just a little more and, like a spring coiled too far, they snapped when it roared and darted forwards, brandishing what looked like a crossbow.

They opened fire on it, aiming to cut it down but were surprised when their bullets met some kind of shield. He became suddenly aware of the two duelling figures again as the second – the woman – held out a hand, as if to stop the bullets firing. He could hear her yelling to stop, a voice that was eerily familiar, though he couldn't place it.

The man – Goa'uld, he now realised – took his opportunity, lashing out with a blow that would have cut into the woman from shoulder through to her opposite hip. Instead, he found that he was being thrown backwards with terrifying force and the tip of his blade merely scorched a line down her front, though Hammond could not tell how bad it was.

"Hold your fire!" Hammond ordered once again, running on instinct this time.

A few moments later, he was aware of the crackle of a radio.

"General, this is O'Neill."

"Go ahead, Colonel." Hammond's attention was now divided between the duel and Jack O'Neill's voice.

"We're under fire, and bringing some friends. Do not fire, repeat, do not fire, no matter how strange they look."

"Affirmative."

"And get a med. team ready, would you?"

"Ready when you are, Colonel." Through his distraction, Hammond noticed that Colonel O'Neill sounded weary, pained and more than a little sad.

"Incoming now, Sir." As if in punctuation, he saw the event horizon ripple, but his attention was snatched away by the battered figure of the Goa'uld as it sprung back at the woman, having somehow counteracted much of the force that it had been thrown across the room with.

Its eyes glowed again – that was about all that he could see in the shadowed side of the room, at the distance he was - as it thrust at the weary woman, an anger instigated move that left its left side open. It was a shame that the woman's sword was not in her left hand, Hammond thought as the Goa'uld batted her blade away. There was a collected gasp of surprise when a second blade appeared in her left hand. Appearing as if summoned there, she swept it up and buried it in him to the hilt, passing through the neck on its way.

As if at a tennis match, he found he attention flicking back to the ramp, where he now saw a battered group of individuals, many alien as well as human and two robots of some kind.

He was just in time to see Jack O'Neill step through the gate, walking backwards and wielding an unfamiliar weapon. As the gate cut out, he turned, a carefully schooled blank look on his face…it lasted right up to the point that he caught sight of the figures beside the gate.

In a show of astounding speed and athleticism, he vaulted over the side of the ramp and ran up to them, shouting what Hammond could have sworn was 'Sam!'

Just as Jack reached them, the Goa'uld's eyes glowed one final time, and it fell completely, all three blades switching themselves off.

Blue lightening seemed to start to emanate from the fallen body and someone yelled, "Take cover!"

Hammond hit the button for the blast shields to descend; the last thing he was able to see was Colonel O'Neill sweeping up the woman and pulling her away, shielding her body with his.


	20. Healing

**Chapter 20 – Healing**

Running out of the control room and down to the doors to the 'gate room, Hammond arrived just as the doors rumbled open, the blast shield rising from the control room.

"Colonel," he called, "just what in God's name's going on here?" His fear for the safety of his team and his base was making him more than a little grumpy as he marched into the room.

Everyone who was rising from their 'cover' positions on the ramp had an apprehensive look about them as they eyed the weapons warily. All that is, except for Dr. Jackson and Teal'c.

"Hi, General," Jackson said with a slight almost-grin, marred by a sad look in his eyes. Teal'c bowed to him but remained silent as the murmuring from somewhere in the darkness behind the 'gate came to a conclusion.

"Oh, you know, General," O'Neill called cheerily. "Got stuck in an alien Galaxy, caught by the Goa'uld again, had to fight our way out. The usual. We did find someone we think you'll be glad to see, though."

"Colonel…" Hammond warned. O'Neill's voice had been getting marginally closer, but he couldn't make out anything other than a vague form. The fight, and the explosion or whatever it had been, had taken out most of the lighting that side of the room.

"Trust me, General, you'll have to see this to believe it." The Colonel was supporting the woman forwards, and Hammond once again had the faint feeling that he should recognise her.

A commotion behind him and a shout of "Daniel!" announced the arrival of Dr. Frasier (technically Jackson, but that would have been confusing) and her team, just as a mop of short blonde hair came into view. The head rose at the unexpected light, squinting at them with a slightly false, pained grin on her face.

Hammond's jaw dropped.

Literally.

Surprised murmurs sprang up within the SF's, and movement out of the corner of his eye showed that people were gossiping in the control room.

"Surprise!" she said, her voice stronger than he would have expected after the beating he'd just seen her take. A clatter behind him was heard as someone dropped something.

"Oh my god…Sam?"

"Hi, Janet."

The long-lost-Major was blocked from view for a moment as another person – alien – came barrelling forwards, stealing Major Carter's attention and yowling incomprehensibly.

"I'll be fine, 'Tralla. No, there was nothing you could do. 'Tralla, it was my own Force-forsaken fault for not realising he was a Goa'uld." A round of growling punctuated each sentence. "Oh, for crying out loud, I'd be fine if you'd just stop rubbing my head. I don't care if it's a Wookie thing; I am not a Wookie." The large, hairy alien made what could only be described as an apologetic whine, but Hammond could see that Sam was grinning tiredly despite herself.

Looking hard at the group on the ramp, she seemed to suddenly realise something. "Who did we lose?" she asked, sadly, the smile slipping.

"Kul'yer, Chom, Mey, Krix, Fenni, Shent and three of the Noghri," replied the smallest of the men.

"Sith! What happened?"

"Stormtroopers came up behind us. We couldn't sense them coming and weren't quick enough to defend." A fiery red-headed woman spoke this time and they all lapsed into silence for a moment, silent looks passing between some of them.

"Well, as fun as this is, the General is going to choke on flies soon, and there are injuries to be dealt with…" Jack O'Neill's voice cut into the silence as he tried to lift the mood, getting them moving.

Hammond's mouth snapped shut, and he laid a hand on Major Carter's arm, to reassure himself that she actually was there. "It's good to see you alive, Major."

She smiled, but shook her head. "Not Major anymore. Just Sam Carter."

"Jedi Knight Sam Carter," Jack re-iterated with more than a little pride, earning a weak, amused shake of her head.

"Infirmary?"

"You betcha. Hear that folks: follow the short lady with the needles." Janet tried to glare at Jack, but the effect was spoiled by the huge grin spread across her face as she reluctantly let go of Daniel.

The aliens gathered followed down the ramp, pausing at the bottom, where the SF's were requesting their weapons. They looked affronted, the red-head in particular.

"Give them your weapons," Sam ordered them, a look passing between certain members of the group that Hammond found himself unable to fathom. Even as she said it the rest of SG-1 took her cue, and they were the first to hand over an assortment of weapons, including the strange silver cylinders.

O'Neill and Carter remained to bring up the rear, watching in odd mixture of amusement and grief as the tallest man yelled back, "Get a move on, Goldenrod!"

"I assure you, Master Solo, I am trying my best, but these steps are most difficult to navigate."

Meanwhile the short, domed robot had rolled down to the bottom, extended a front wheel to try to navigate the step but had instead just fallen right off, landing on its front, wheels spinning uselessly in the air.

Still dazed and in shock, Hammond heard two snorts of laughter at the robots' predicament, and he saw, out of the corner of his eye, Carter gesture with a hand. The robot suddenly lifted into the air and set itself upright, warbling something at Sam and Jack as they limped slowly towards the infirmary, Carter leaning heavily on the Colonel.

"That's quite alright, Artoo," he heard Carter say.

The golden robot turned towards him, its cultured voice emanating forth as it turned glowing lights/eyes towards him. "Hello, Sir, I am See-Threepio, Human-Cyborg relations. I am fluent in over 6 million forms of communication…" It continued to blather away as they headed towards the infirmary after the others.

* * *

"You allowed them to escape!" Hetarn bellowed, eyes glowing fiercely.

"I-I-I'm sorry, my lord, I take full responsibility for my-argh!"

"Yes, you will," Hetarn informed him coldly as he engaged his hand device, taking pleasure in the way that the man slumped to the floor. "You! Report!" He glared at the young ensign who stood behind his commander.

"Four aliens found their way into the facility, we-we think from the troop ships they landed in. They f-found Solo first, released the prisoners and made their way to the Chappa'ai, My Lord," the man stuttered, head bowed.

"And what of Xitori?"

"He was pulled through the Chappa'ai by the Jedi Carter."

Hetarn hissed in annoyance and the ensign flinched. "They will have to be dealt with at a later date. For now, they cannot return to this Galaxy so we will have a brief respite. Send an assassin after them anyway…I wouldn't want them to forget about me. Dismissed." He waved the relieved ensign off, already planning which planet he would take next.

* * *

As Sam hobbled out of the Gateroom with Jack, she felt a faint wave of amusement pass through her at the faint sound of Threepio's words. It was quickly drowned out as tiredness, grief, and pain overwhelmed her, and she pulled her Force-sense in, tapping into it only to keep herself awake and alert for the time she knew it would take to get to the infirmary and get everyone settled.

She only vaguely noticed Dentralla's over-protective presence hovering at the door, waiting for them.

A million questions vied for her attention, but she pushed them away with a single-minded determination. So intent was she on putting one foot in front of the other that she completely missed the Tok'ra who was hovering at the base of the stairs from the control room.

"'Lo, Reeses," Jack murmured, using his pet name for Sarah/Vinnet.

"Colonel O'Neill! Is that…?"

"Yeah, you want to-"

"Of course," the relatively young half earth-girl interrupted him, pre-empting his request and looking to Hammond for confirmation.

"Do it," the Texan General ordered, returning the nod she sent their way before heading back up to the control room.

Turning back to Sam, Jack caught the grimace on her face, "What is it?" he asked, concerned.

Sam pulled a face in reply, "He cut my bra, and it's just kinda…uncomfortable."

"You have god knows how many wounds and you're upset because _he cut your bra in half!_"

"I don't think you realise just how uncomfortable that is," Sam growled. "I hope not, anyway."

Dentralla yowled a comment, to which Sam rolled her eyes. "Walking 'round in the buff may work for you, but I'd rather not, thanks." Jack opened his mouth to comment, but Sam silenced him quickly; "Don't you dare!"

"Me!" They lapsed into silence, the sound of their footsteps punctuating the journey.

When they arrived at the infirmary a few minutes later, they were greeted by a scene of utter chaos. While the severely outnumbered doctors and nurses were trying – unsuccessfully - to organise the gathered beings, the SF's were trying to keep tabs on them, flinching occasionally when one of them made a large gesture or a loud comment.

Sam took a deep breath, tapping into the Force to keep herself going a few minutes more. After a few quieter attempts to get their attention she gave up, yelling "PEOPLE!", masking a wince as the charred skin on her chest cracked and split.

The commotion stopped, and the beings gathered turned to look at her questioningly. "Thank you. Those of you injured, claim a bed or you'll be on the floor. Those not, get out of the way and let the professionals do their job. You'll be taken to VIP quarters shortly, just as soon as they're sorted." Even the non Force-users in the room could detect the edge to her voice, and it had been well groomed to giving orders in a crisis.

"Major," Hammond began, frowning at her.

"General, do you really believe that having all of these people in here is going to help the situation?"

"No, but you have no right to be making the decisions in here, and frankly I don't know if these people, or even you for that matter, pose a threat to my base." Sam's snapped her mouth shut, her lips forming a thin line as her eyes hardened. "You've been MIA, presumed dead for nearly 7 years," Hammond continued; "you can't just waltz in here and start ordering my people around."

The words 'well have you got a better idea?' sprang into her mind unbidden, but she bit them back in the nick of time. He had a point, and she would do the same in his place. She nodded silently, turning to survey the people who had followed her here.

Jack, still supporting her with one arm, gave her a minute squeeze. "General, these are good people; I owe them my life, and Sam's."

"I'll take that into consideration, Colonel." Hammond turned to the nearest SF. "As Major Carter suggested, install those people not in need of medical attention in the VIP quarters, but post an armed guard."

"Thank you, General," Jack nodded to him, acknowledging the command decision had been unnecessary, but the right one to make nonetheless.

"We'll have a debriefing later, Colonel, but for now, I have several phone calls to make. It's good to have you back."

"Good to be back, Sir." Hammond turned and left, leaving them to it.

"'Tralla, get on a bed, and let them look at you," Sam ordered the tall Wookie, eyeing the blaster wound she had on her torso. Dentralla roared a protest, but Sam merely levelled an icy gaze at her. "Get. Now. I'll just be a few beds over." The hairy biped eventually complied, grumbling the entire time. Pelari and Gelk were already on beds, and she could see Leia and Han arguing with the remaining Noghri about whether or not he could leave 'the Lady Vader' for a while to heal himself.

Of the others, that left only Corran who was injured. "I'm fine, just a few singes," he told Sam when she levelled her eyes at him.

"And a Hutt could fly," she replied. "At least get them cleaned and dressed." She said nothing more to him before leading Jack over to the two beds at the far end of the room. Hobbling to her own bed, she didn't look at Corran as she manoeuvred herself onto it.

"Sam?"

"Leave it," she growled, blocking him out of her mind. Sensing that now was not the time, Corran wisely left it, surrendering himself to the care of a nurse for the short while it took to have them cleaned and dressed, before he rejoined the others waiting to go to the VIP quarters.

Sitting back and closing her eyes, she let the noise wash over her for a few moments. She felt betrayed and not only by the Derren-Goa'uld but also by the people who had claimed to be her friends and team-mates but who hadn't trusted her enough to tell her about the presence of the four Noghri. People who had, in fact, deliberately concealed their presence from them. They should have trusted her. If not as a friend then as the Team Leader. But they didn't trust her.

She brought herself back to reality as the noise of a rubber glove snapping on announced the arrival of Janet Frasier-Jackson.

"Hello, stranger," she commented, smiling. The curtain had been pulled, Sam noticed.

"Hey Janet."

"You going to let me have a look at that wound?"

"Wounds, plural!" Jack announced from the bed opposite, watching her with concern.

Sam sighed. "Right, just gotta do something first."

"Oh, no you don't have to do anything first," Janet informed her, moving to intercept her as she slid off of the bed and started to walk towards Jack.

"Janet-"

"Samantha Carter, you get back in that bed now!"

Sam, tired, in pain, and grieving for a friend, simply ignored her, raising one hand as she moved to Jack's side. Janet was surprised to find herself caught in an invisible barrier and unable to move. "Daniel will explain."

"Sam?" Jack asked.

"Healing trance. You should wake on your own, once you're healed, but we'll use the keyword just in case," she explained quietly, not having the energy for a detailed explanation or niceties.

"How about, you let me heal normally, and you put yourself under."

"I'll do that after."

"Just like you did last time?"

"No, this time I will be able to…promise." Jack held her gaze for a few moments, reaching out with his fledgling Force abilities and reaching into her mind for confirmation. Sensing this Sam let him into her mind, showing him her determination and her honesty.

"Do you really want a headache the size of Coruscant for the next few days?"

"Fine," he gave in with a small smile, "you're way too stubborn for your own good."

"Learned it from the best."

Jack lay back on the bed, taking her right hand and giving it a squeeze, careful not to jolt it and hurt her.

"Homer? Just in case."

"Homer," he confirmed as she closed her eyes and put her hand on his forehead, sending him into a healing trance.

Once done, she hobbled back to her own bed, releasing the riled doctor to check on Jack. "What did you do?"

"Put him into a healing trance…Daniel will explain."

"Is he-will he wake up on his own?" Janet knew better than to question her right then.

"He'll sleep like a Hutt 'till he's done, or you say the key word."

"Hutt? Keyword?"

Sam waved off an explanation of 'Hutt'. "Homer."

Janet snorted. "Of course. What about you?"

"Do what you have to when I'm under." Janet could see the pain that underscored her exhaustion and decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. She'd seen weirder – hadn't she? "Do you have a keyword?"

Sam thought for a few minutes before nodding. "_Peacemaker?"_ Janet raised an eyebrow. "Name of my ship," she explained.

"Your-? I have a feeling you've got quite a tale to tell."

"You have no idea. If you don't mind…" She sent herself off into the bliss-full embrace of oblivion.

Janet looked at her for a moment before tentatively reaching out to touch her hand. She was really there. Suppressing a teary smile, she slipped back into doctor mode, reaching out to gently peel back the burnt fabric of her jacket, keeping an eye on her to test whether or not she was going to disturb her.

Behind her, another curtain was pulled as another nurse began work on checking Jack out.

Pulling the tray closer to her and the bed, she grabbed the scissors to cut off the tank, forehead creasing at the mess of burnt flesh underneath, before starting on the long task.

After only a few minutes' work, she heard a loud grumble from down the room. "Dr. Frasier!" someone called.

"Jordan, take over for me," she called to the passing nurse who nodded before putting down the scrubs he was carrying and taking over, wincing visibly at the sight. "She's out cold," Janet explained before marching off towards the nurse who had called her.

"What is it, Kelly?"

"I can't understand what the…alien is saying, and she's making it hard to treat her…or him." The nurse looked nervous and a little dazed and kept staring warily at the cubicle.

"Alright, go and help Jordan; he's got a big job to do."

"Yes Ma'am."

Janet looked at the curtain, her lips pursed. How the hell was she supposed to treat a patient she not only didn't understand, but who also had a completely alien physiology and wasn't being a co-operative patient? _At least we've got the analyser device up and working…although we've really got to figure out a better name for it._

She turned on her heel and marched over the remaining people gathered. "Hello, I'm Doctor Frasier. I need to treat the patient in there…was it Dentralla? But I don't understand what she's saying. Is it possible that any of you could translate for me?"

"Of course," replied a fairly short, sandy-haired man. "This is C-3PO, he's a protocol droid."

"Hello," the golden droid stepped forwards, head tilted to one side. "I am fluent in over six million forms of communication; I would be happy to translate for you."

"Stop yapping and start moving, Goldenrod," growled a tall, dark haired man. C-3PO started to move towards the cubicle, the motors that moved him whirring almost imperceptibly.

"Thank you." She had started to move away when the SF who had been sent to check VIP quarters returned. "Ah, I think you can go now, but I will be along to check you over later – standard tests to make sure that you aren't carrying any foreign illnesses –"

"Or Goa'uld." The red-headed woman added shrewdly.

Janet smiled grimly, and nodded. "Get some rest, and eat…Doctor's orders." With that, she turned on her heel and marched back to the cubicle.

* * *

"Excuse me, if you'll follow me please." They turned to regard the armed sergeant. "The VIP quarters are ready for you."

"Thank you," Leia told him with a smile as they trooped out after him, walking down the corridor in silence. After a trip down several plain grey corridors marked in unfamiliar shapes and a ride in a primitive cable-lift elevator, they reached a plain door with a security lock on it. Their guards ushered them into a fairly large room full of various bits of furniture, all in a very traditional style, just like the hinged-door. Leading off were six more hinged doors, no doubt to the sleeping quarters.

Chewie howled a comment, making Han smirk.

"No kidding; beats an Imperial cell anyway."

"Oh, sorry, didn't see you there." They looked up at the familiar voice of Daniel, who had just walked headfirst into the Sergeant.

"Not a problem, Dr. Jackson, glad to see you back."

Daniel gave him a quick smile before moving into the room, the door closing soundly behind him, and a lock clicking into place. "Sorry it took so long…Janet wanted Teal'c and me to do a post-mission physical right away…something about aliens messing with our bodies…"

"Of course, Daniel," Luke told him with a small smile.

"Right, now I've been made your 'liaison' of sorts, to make sure you have what you need as I have a background with you. First things first…clothes. You'll be given a set of BDU's each until we can either get some others, or get yours cleaned and repaired, we've just got to sort out sizes." He pulled out a note book and they quickly worked out some sizes and scribbled them down. "And food…any kind of food that you'd prefer…not that you'd know what kind of food we have here…"

"Just whatever you think we might like will be fine, Daniel," Leia said, giving him a small smile.

"Oh, well I'll just get a mix of everything…and lots of raw meat for Chewie."

Chewie howled a vociferous affirmative, causing the guards to rush in, asking Daniel if he was okay.

"No, I'm fine, sergeant. That's about it for now, though. The General will want to talk to you later, though."

"We'll be waiting," Han replied wryly.

Once Daniel had left, they all sank tiredly onto the chairs, regarding each other quietly.

"What happened, Han?" Luke was the first to speak. "We all saw you die…I _felt_ you die…"

Han shrugged. "I dunno, one minute I was in there, a gun aimed at me, the next I was in a big box, with a Noghri looking down at me."

"Could it have been one of those Sarcophagus things that they were telling us about?" Corran asked, receiving a few nods.

Chewie growled a question at them, which Han translated as "Why didn't any of you Jedi sense these people; they didn't have any ysalimiri on them."

"I don't know." Luke shook his head, frowning.

"It was too precise, too localised for Ysalimiri," Mara added, shaking her head. "It was as if the Force just couldn't access the people."

"What about Derren; why didn't we notice that he'd fallen to the dark side?"

"Could it have been the same thing that stopped you from sensing the people?" Han asked with a shrug.

"I don't think so…we could sense that he was there, but we didn't sense that he was Dark-side. Usually if someone tries to hide something like that, we can tell."

"It wasn't just that," Corran announced. "His Force presence…it was like there were two minds there. Derren's was there, but it was subdued and overshadowed by another…"

"…a Goa'uld," Mara finished for him.

"Who must have been using the Force to hide itself from us," Leia added.

"If it masked its own presence, it could, in theory, have just let us sense Derren's; we would never have noticed it."

"When though?"

"When he was chased back to Yavin…it was a set up," Corran deduced.

A knock on the door heralded the arrival of their clean clothes. "Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm gonna use the 'fresher," Corran announced, rising to his feet and stalking off towards one of the rooms, bundle of clothes in hand.

As if by unanimous agreement, the others followed suit, grabbing a bundle of clothes and a room each.

After studying the unit for a few minutes, he finally managed to figure out how to work it, though it took another five minutes to get the temperature right and he stepped under the jet of water, letting it wash over him. _If we haven't got control of the 'gate at the other end…we can never go back,_ the thought struck him with an almost physical force. _Mirax, Valin…_

_

* * *

_

General George Hammond walked into the Infirmary to find a dishevelled Janet Frasier-Jackson checking the chart of a patient – a blue-haired woman who was sleeping peacefully, olive brown skin hinting at an exotic home planet.

Janet looked up at him, smiling tiredly. "General," she greeted.

"What have we got, Doctor?"

"Well, this is Major Mel Gelk…she's human, took a high-energy shot to the right arm, but otherwise okay." She moved on to the next bed, where a green-skinned alien with two tentacles on his head lay, sleeping a little less peacefully. "Major Pelari, a Twi'lek. He took a shot to what he tells me are his 'Lekku', or head-tails. They're very sensitive he tells me." In the next lay a wiry grey alien. "This is…Borakek?"

"Close, Borakahk," the alien corrected, eyes opening.

"Sorry, Borakahk," Janet corrected. "This is General Hammond, the leader of this base."

"Greetings, General Hammond."

"And to you…Borakahk." The alien nodded to confirm his pronunciation. "I hope you are feeling better."

"I am. The wound in my leg is nothing; it will heal soon." Nodding a respectful goodbye, the alien closed his eyes again.

The next was a large hairy alien who had needed some clever manipulation to lengthen the bed for her. "This is Dentralla; she's a Wookie. She's sedated at the moment…we had to so that we could clean and dress the wound. I think it's a good thing that those weapons cauterise most of the wound at the same time, as I don't think any of them would have lasted long otherwise."

"You used the Jelljin device to test her reaction to the sedative?" Hammond asked, gesturing the Wookie.

"Yes…as well as for everyone else; I wasn't going to take any chances."

Hammond nodded, glad that the device that had so nearly cost him two teams was worthwhile. "Why is the robot-"

"Droid."

"Droid, sitting there?"

"Well, Wookie physiology leaves them unable to speak English, though they can understand it. Threepio was translating for me. When he realised that he would most likely not have any method for powering up for a while, he decided that he had best shut himself down to preserve power."

Hammond could detect a hint of amusement in the Doctor's voice as they carried on down towards the end, where Jack and Sam were. Teal'c was standing guard, as usual, watching over them. "Teal'c."

"General Hammond." Teal'c bowed his head and let out a small smile.

Hammond took in the lines under the Jaffa's eyes, the droop of his shoulders and his generally tired demeanour and took pity on him. "Teal'c, why don't you go and get some rest? I'll stay here and watch over them for a while," he offered.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "Do you not have duties to attend?"

"I can manage for a few hours, I think. I'll have some reports sent down to work on," he reassured the Jaffa.

"I can make it an order if you like, Teal'c," Janet cut in, giving him a stern look. Teal'c bowed once and left, heading for the commissary.

Hammond turned his questioning gaze to the doctor once again.

"Here we have Major Carter…her wounds are very strange…they look as if they've been made with a white hot poker…"

"There was a fight in the 'gate room. She very nearly lost. They seemed to be wielding glowing swords…I don't doubt we'll find out sooner or later. Anything you can tell me about what happened when she was taken?"

"Not really…the nurses found rather a lot of small weapons on her…most seemed like an advanced form of knives, one small concealed gun of some sort. She does have some inexplicable scars though…mostly on her hands and upper arms." She showed him the criss-crossing of scars. "Then we have this tattoo…I don't know what it says; I'll have to ask Daniel later. Apart from that, the scars mostly seem to be burns of some kind. She was wearing this, though," Janet showed him the small silver necklace with the 'Gate symbol for Earth and an unrecognisable one too.

"WHOAH!" They turned to find Jack O'Neill raised onto his elbows, eyes wide open and looking a little disoriented.

"Colonel?" They rushed over to his side, Hammond forgetting that he was still holding the necklace.

"Doc, General!" The beeping of the ECG slowed down again as his heart rate returned to normal. "Would you stop that! I'm fine!" he exclaimed as Janet shone a light in his eyes.

"Colonel, you've been unconscious for several hours-"

"I wasn't unconscious; I was in a healing trance,"

"Yes, Daniel told me, sort of."

"Hmmph. How are the others?"

"Alive, settled, not for you to worry about at the moment. How are you feeling?"

"Hungry, a little tired, mostly hungry,"

"I'm not surprised; to heal that quickly must take enormous amounts of energy."

Jack shrugged. "Most of it comes from the Force." Janet and the General exchanged a look and Jack sighed. "Get Luke to explain it; he's the Jedi Master."

"I'll keep that in mind. For now, we'll get you something to eat and you can rest."

Jack yawned and nodded, shrugging when she asked what he wanted. "Meat and Jello" were his only specifications; "what?" was his indignant question upon catching the bemused looks of Hammond.

"Meat and Jello?"

"Would you believe that they don't have Jello? I mean…an advanced civilisation like that, thousands of planets, hundreds of races and they don't have Jello!"

Hammond chuckled lightly. "Only you, Jack, only you."

"Thanks, I think. Whatcha got there?" he asked, catching sight of the silver chain still in Hammond's hands.

"Oh, Major Carter's necklace; Doctor Frasier was showing it to me when you woke up."

"You know you might want to drop the 'Major' part; she gets a little antsy about it."

Hammond nodded slowly, but decided that it was best left, for now at least. "Can you tell me what this second symbol means?" he asked instead, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"It's the symbol of the Jedi."

"The people she's been with for the last seven years?"

"Nooo…the people she's been one of for the last four years."

"And before that…?"

Jack seemed to hold an internal debate with himself before finally speaking. "…she was a slave."

"A slave?" he asked incredulously. He'd assumed these people had found her right near the beginning, within days of her being taken.

Jack nodded. "And we left her," he added bitterly.

"My God…"

Jack sensed that he was going to ask another question, but he held his hand up to silence him. "General, anything more than that…it's up to Sam to tell you."

"I understand, Jack. You do realise I'll have to tell Doctor Frasier this, in case of any medical emergency."

"I know." Jack swivelled his eyes to look at Sam, who lay peacefully on the other side of him, her breathing slow and gentle.

The arrival of Hammond's aide with a pile of papers interrupted both men's reveries. Jack raised an eyebrow at him.

"I promised Teal'c I'd keep watch over you until he'd had some rest."

Jack smirked. "I didn't know you cared," he quipped impishly.

Hammond snorted and shook his head, silence falling as the food was brought in and Jack busied himself with trying to inhale it.


	21. Debrief

**Chapter 21 – Debrief**

"General, there has to be a way to get them back… These people have families, children, for crying out loud!" Jack exclaimed before closing his eyes and visibly calming himself down. That in itself was a sight to make Hammond pause, though Daniel and Teal'c had grown used to it over the last few weeks.

"I know, Colonel, but if what you say about their gate is true…"

"I think they know this, General," Daniel said quietly, a sad look creasing his face. "They've asked that they be allowed to organise a memorial for the people we lost. They want to wait until Sam's awake, though, as she was the Team Leader."

"They can start to organise it, by all means. You're alright to continue as the go-between?"

Daniel nodded. "One thing that they did ask is whether they could have a power unit for Threepio and Artoo. They can last a while, but they'd rather have it now than too late."

Jack sighed. "Won't work. The interfaces and energy outputs are different. Chewie could probably hash one out, but he doesn't know our technology, so it could take weeks if not months."

"What about Sam?" Daniel asked, oblivious to the General's amazed look.

"She could well be out of it for that long, apparently."

"Could you not do it, O'Neill?" Teal'c suggested.

"I was afraid you would say that," Jack groaned. "Sure. We need Goldenrod to translate for 'Tralla and Chewie, so I'm gonna have to. Knew I should've kept my mouth shut," he groused, though his friends knew that he wasn't that bothered, really. "I'll need Siler to help me with the Doohickeys and stuff, though."

"Colonel?" Hammond asked incredulously.

"General?"

"_You're _going to build a power unit for these droids?" Hammond was amazed to see the side of Jack that usually only appeared when he talked tactics, warfare, or explosives. He knew Jack was not a dumb man, but that was different to scientist level stuff.

"Oh, that's nothing; I can build and repair parts of a starship engine." He grinned.

Daniel chuckled at the General's expression. "I don't think Sam ever really thought we'd get home," he explained. "She insisted that Jack stopped being an ass and learned something useful."

"I believe she also wished him to stop irritating her, as DanielJackson was busy and I was sequestered with Cilghal." Teal'c's own amusement was visible as he explained.

Hammond nodded; he'd been told about how Teal'c had managed to survive without the Tretonin, though he as still dubious about the 'Force' thing, not least because nothing much had been explained about it. All he knew was that it had the ability to heal people when they were put into a trance. Most of their visitors were either injured, asleep, or in one of these trances to heal themselves, so he'd been unable to find out more about it. He also suspected that those who had woken recently were waiting for Carter, probably so that they knew how much to tell him. It sounded as if these people were far more advanced, and could possibly give them a lot of technology.

"Right, well…you get to work then. Dismissed."

* * *

Sam slept peacefully on the infirmary bed, curled on one side. She'd apparently been out for nearly two weeks and had ravenously devoured heaps of food before drifting back into sleep.

The tranquil rest was broken, however, when her danger sense informed her that two unknown presence's had entered the room. That would not normally have been a problem; nurses and SF's were in and out of there all the time, but they were headed for her. And the two presence's shared one body.

Keeping up the pretence of being asleep, she located the knife she'd used to eat with earlier, gripping it with the Force and waiting. The presence stopped by her bed and reached a hand towards her. Within seconds, Sam had grabbed the hand, rolled off of the bed, twisted the Goa'uld's arm behind its back, called the knife to her with the Force and pressed it against the skin of its neck, using the Force to pin its legs where they were.

"Sam?" it asked shakily, voice breaking. A normal voice. One she recognised.

"Dad?" Footsteps came running into the room and a concerned Jack appeared at the door.

"Hey, Sammie, it's me," Jacob slumped forwards, rubbing his neck as Sam released him.

"Oh, Sith! I'm sorry, Dad." She put the knife down self-consciously as Jack came over.

"You okay?" he asked Sam, who nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine by the way, Jack," Jacob muttered bitterly.

"I didn't realise it was you…I thought you were a Goa'uld."

"You were asleep, how could you have possibly even known there was someone there?" he bit back, immediately relenting. "Sorry, I just wasn't expecting to be attacked by my daughter."

Sam had the grace to look a little sheepish, but she shrugged. "Kind of an instinct. It's saved my life enough times that I generally tend to listen when it tells me there's danger."

Jacob nodded. "Is it safe to hug you?" he asked, with a tentative smile.

Sam nodded and embraced him. "It's so good to see you!"

"You have no idea, Sammie," Jacob muttered into her shoulder. "I thought you were dead."

"Not quite."

Jack stood slightly awkwardly with his hands shoved in his pockets until Sam finally pulled away, turning to the door just as Daniel and Teal'c walked in.

"Jacob! When did you get here?" Daniel exclaimed, grinning at the older man as Teal'c bowed and let lose a trace of a smile.

"Just now; Vinnet called the new base and sent a message to me," he explained.

"What took you so long?" Jack quipped.

"I was tying up loose ends on a mission," he explained, one arm firmly wrapped around his daughter.

He dipped his head, allowing Selmak to the forefront. "We received the message only when we returned to the base less than an hour ago. Nothing else could have kept Jacob back."

"Selmak, it's good to hear you, too," Sam told the Tok'ra. "Sorry about calling you a Goa'uld…it's-"

"A long and complicated story, which you'll hear later, along with General Hammond," Jack cut in.

"You haven't told him yet?"

"We figured it would be best to wait for you to help explain." Jack caught her eyes and silently communicated to her that they had been unsure of what to say…certain information in the hands of the NID could be dangerous.

"I think it's going to be one hell of a story," Jacob commented, regaining control of the body.

"First, I'm going to have a shower and get dressed." She turned to Jack. "I don't suppose any of my clothes survived?"

"Your pants and your boots. They were cleaned along with the rest of the gear; the Doc sorted something for you though…in the cupboard I think." Sam nodded and searched the cupboard, pulling out blue BDU's, her black trousers and boots and several sets of new, clean underwear. Silently thanking Janet, Sam smiled once at the men before grabbing the clothes and heading for the infirmary shower.

Jacob planted himself on the bed, a dazed look on his face. "She's really back," he said eventually, raising his eyes to look at the quietly chatting men of SG-1. "And she's not dead."

"Really? I never would have guessed it," Jack quipped.

Daniel shot Jack a 'don't be an ass' look. "That's what we thought when we saw her, in an alien galaxy, far, far away, pointing a blaster at us."

Jack glanced at Daniel and reached out with the Force, trying to gauge what he was thinking and why he'd felt the need to share that delightful bit of information with Jacob.

"A what?"

"A blaster. A type of weapon. It is similar to your projectile handguns, but it shoots an energy bolt more like that of a staff weapon," Teal'c explained. Apparently he was in on Daniel's thinking too. Had there been a memo that he'd missed?

"Of course, that lasted only a split second before all hell broke loose, and she single-handedly protected and disarmed us." Jacob had an indecipherable look on his face and Daniel, catching Jack's now full blown glare, grimaced. "I guess what I'm trying to say, Jake, is just that…she's changed a lot. Just be prepared for that, because we weren't, and we hurt her." OH! He got it now…prepare Jacob for the fact that 'his little girl' is not going to be anything like 'his little girl' any more. Jacob having a funny reaction to her was not something she needed right now.

"See now, Daniel, why didn't you just come right out and say that? It would have been so much easier to understand."

"I'll remember that for next time we bring a long-lost-friend home, Jack."

They were interrupted by the loud and excited entrance of Dentralla, followed by the almost comically smaller Janet Frasier, who was moving as fast as she could to keep up.

Jacob jumped off of his bed and backed away in surprise. "What the hell is that!"

"_That_ as you so eloquently put it, is Dentralla, Sam's best friend and Co-pilot," Jack replied, biting back his laughter as Dentralla turned and roared at Jacob. "Dentralla, this is Sam's Dad, Jacob, and the Tok'ra Selmak."

Jacob's head dipped and Selmak's deep, echoing voice issued forth, "I must apologise for my host's rudeness; he was not expecting to see such a large, and unusual being in the SGC."

Dentralla eyed him warily and jabbered something at Jack and Daniel.

"Hey, slow down 'tralla, we can't understand you that well," Daniel put a hand on her arm to calm her, face creased in concentration. Dentralla repeated it more slowly, gesturing wildly with her arms.

"'Are we sure he's safe?'. I think," Jack deciphered it before Daniel had, earning him several surprised looks and a grateful nod from Dentralla. "What? I spent hours with her and Sam teaching me, you didn't think I'd learn some of it?"

"I did not think that you would pick it up before DanielJackson," Teal'c commented.

"It makes sense, Teal'c; Jack spent much more time with her than I did."

"Oh for crying out loud; Yes, 'Tralla, we're sure he's safe. He's one of the two Tok'ra I trust."

"Really, who's the other?" Jacob asked.

"Reeses."

"Sarah and Vinnet?"

"Hey, Vinnet let Sarah stay on earth, finish her childhood…"

"Jack, you are a very strange man."

"You've only just noticed?" Daniel interjected.

"Point. So when you say you spent a long time with them…?"

"Well, I think it was nearly two months in the end." Not that Daniel had been homesick enough to count the days or anything.

"Two months? What took you so long to get home?"

"Pesky little Imp-Goa'uld combination that took control of the 'Gate."

"A Goa'uld took a little imp alien as a host?"

"Uh, no, Jack means an Imperial Warlord."

"It appears that the Goa'uld took a host who was most proficient at tactics. It is for the same reason that none of our companions can return to their own Galaxy." Teal'c had a pained look on his face, a reminder that he knew what it was like to be separated from his family.

"I don't suppose the Tok'ra have somehow managed to build a ship capable of crossing inter-galactic spaces in a short time in the last two months have they?" Jack asked caustically.

"No."

"Worth a try." He shrugged.

Their conversation turned to other things as they waited for Sam…how Cassie was doing in her last year of university was one of them.

"Wow, a party," Sam commented as she re-entered the room.

"Something like that," Janet commented as Dentralla pushed past the others and crushed Sam into a Wookie hug.

"I'm glad you're okay, too," Sam mumbled against the Wookie's chest. "Now, could you let me go? I need to breathe. Thank you." Stepping back a little, she looked Dentralla up and down. "You are okay, aren't you?" Dentralla whined an affirmative, showing the well-healed burn on her torso. "'Nother scar for the collection, huh?"

"Speaking of which, I need to check you over before you can leave," Janet told her, gesturing to the bed. Sam sighed but stepped over to it, gesturing and using the Force to pull the curtain around. Jack, who had been watching Jacob to see how he'd react to that, bit back a smile as the man just blinked, and frowned at it.

"Really, Janet, I'm fine."

"I'll be the judge of that. Top off," Janet ordered, waiting for Sam to take the black BDU top off. She'd opted for her own trousers, preferring their comfort to the now unfamiliar BDU trousers.

Sighing, Sam complied, allowing Janet to check the long, pink scar that ran down her front and the small dot where she'd been stabbed through the shoulder. The other, small wounds were more or less completely gone, with the barest trace of a scar.

"So are you going to tell me what all these scars are about?" she asked, running her hands over the lines on her hands.

"Not now," she replied bluntly, her eyes taking on a pained look as she snatched them away from the startled woman.

Janet frowned, taken aback and little hurt by the refusal to talk.

Sam sensed this and grimaced. "Janet, I'm sorry; you'll hear it along with everyone else, it's just…" she hesitated, "it's not something I especially like talking about."

The frown on Janet's face was now one of concern and sympathy as she understood at least a part of it. She gave a small smile. "Okay, but I'm here if you want to talk or anything."

Sam smiled, touched by the sentiment, but knowing that the chances of taking her up on it were slim to none. "Thanks," she said instead. "Have you got my chrono and stuff?" she asked, having not seen it on or in the cabinet.

"Chrono?"

"Sorry, watch."

"Oh, right, yes, I locked them in my office," she explained, leading her into the small room with only a slight wave at the others as she passed them.

Unlocking a drawer, Janet started to pull things out. "Here you go."

"You had them cleaned?" Sam asked as she fastened the thick strap of the Chrono over the tattoos.

Daniel had explained only that the shapes were numbers – 164 – and genetically written into her DNA, but he would say nothing more on the matter, stating that it was Sam's business, not his.

"Well, it wouldn't exactly be hygienic to have all that muck in my infirmary, now would it?" Janet replied, smiling unsurely as she handed a sack of holsters, watching with a touch of horror as Sam fastened them on with the ease of practice and much use. "Do you really need all those?" she asked hesitantly as Sam concealed a knife holster in her right boot.

Sam looked directly at her as she clipped a small holster to her left forearm. "No, just most of them." She flexed her arm and a spring mechanism revealed a tiny gun, just big enough to fit into her hand. She handed it to Janet. "You might want to add that to the others," she informed the stunned doctor.

Finally, she fastened the silver necklace around her neck, tucking it inside her top. "I take it you did put them all in the armoury safe store?"

"Ye-yeah," Janet stuttered. The fact that Sam felt the need to carry so many weapons, and was so blasé and confrontational about it sent a shiver down her spine. It was as if she was daring Janet to comment, or question her.

"Good. If anything happens to them, there'll be hell to pay," Sam told her before grinning.

Janet let out a breath she hadn't realised she's been holding. Sam was just joking, messing with her head. At the back of her mind a little warning bell rang; didn't that grin seem a little forced?

"Come on, I think Dentralla's had enough time to scare Dad witless, don't you?"

"Oh, definitely," Janet told her, regaining a shade of her composure.

When they rejoined the group in the infirmary, Sam found herself immediately ensconced in her father's arms again, her damp hair being ruffled by Dentralla, who yowled a comment.

"Hey! It's not as if I _try_ to get hurt, just so I can scare you!" Sam retorted, grinning for a second before her face became a little cold. "I guess I'd better go talk to Corran and the others?"

"If they'd had their way, they would have all come when I told them you'd woken up," Janet told her with a smile.

"What stopped them?" Sam's face darkened just a little bit more, making Janet frown.

"Dentralla."

"Oh?" Sam looked up at her as they walked towards the elevator. Dentralla yowled a reply that made Sam smile. "Thanks, you're right," was all she said, leaving the others non-plussed, though Jack caught the words 'Corran', 'should', and 'you'.

"You want a few minutes?" Jack asked as they reached the VIP quarters where they were being housed, sensing her feelings through the Force. He'd been practising what she'd taught him already, determined to prove that her faith in him was well-placed.

Sam nodded. "Thanks." She stepped into the room with a blank look on her face.

Six sets of eyes turned towards her, brightening when they saw her, though they nevertheless hung back tensely.

"Sam?" Corran asked tentatively. He'd told the others that he suspected she was mad about something, but he wasn't sure what.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Luke asked as Mara looked at her speculatively.

"About the Noghri team," Mara stated, knowing how she'd feel in Sam's place. It wasn't a question; she was sure now that she'd sensed how she felt with the Force.

"Oh," Corran grimaced. Of course that was it.

"What do you mean, 'Oh'?"

"I mean oh, we should have told you, oh, that's why you're angry, oh stang, I'm such an idiot for not telling you!" Corran retorted.

Sam shook her head. "I'm not angry," she replied coldly. She wasn't…she felt betrayed. "I trusted you, and you threw that back in my face." It had taken a long time for Sam to be able to trust any new people again, and it made it hurt all the more.

"No, we just didn't tell anyone who didn't need to know," Han interjected cockily.

"And I didn't!" she exclaimed in frustration.

"No, the only reason Corran knew was so that he could deflect people from sensing it," Luke added.

"I was the team leader; how am I supposed to lead a _team_ if people hold things back?" All of them looked around uncomfortably. "Tell me you at least had a reason." She sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"I had a Force vision…it thought it told me that a Force-user would betray us, someone new to the Force," Luke explained.

"So why not tell me?"

Corran shifted uncomfortably. "We thought it was Jack."

Sam narrowed her eyes. "Then why tell me to train him?"

"This was after that."

"Right." Sam shook her head. She could, in a way, understand it now, though it still hurt.

"Hadn't Derren been using the Force as long as you have, though Sam?" Han asked, knowing now who the 'betrayer' had been.

"Maybe, but the Goa'uld hadn't," Leia interjected, a slight frown creasing her face as she tried to work her head around the information.

Sam nodded, several pieces of a difficult, convoluted, and widely scattered puzzle falling into place. "Have you spoken to General Hammond yet?"

"We were waiting for you to even try to explain this," Leia told her. "In our experience…less advanced planetary governments usually have a less than accepting view of things, and we thought we'd wait for a friendly face." The comment was said very diplomatically, but in the knowledge that Sam would understand.

"Good. There are factions of this government who are less than friendly," Sam finished, gesturing to open the door, making Jack, who had been leaning against it, fall through, almost landing on his ass before Sam caught him with the Force.

"Hey! That was my leaning post!" he exclaimed, silently asking her if she was okay.

"Well then, you should have chosen one that doesn't move." The others trooped in and Sam pointed to Jacob. "This is my Dad, Jacob Carter, host to Selmak of the Tok'ra," she introduced, making a point of the Tok'ra comment, to show them he was a good guy. "Corran Horn, Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade-Skywalker, Chewbacca, Han Solo and Leia Organa-Solo."

"Hi," Jacob said, before dipping his head and letting Selmak talk. "It is an honour to meet the friends of my host's daughter."

All of them flinched, not expecting a voice so like that of the Goa'uld and Selmak allowed Jacob to take control again. "George wanted everyone in the briefing room as soon as Sam was ready," he informed them, gesturing out of the door.

Daniel nodded and stepped out of the room. "I'll get Mel, Pelari and Borakahk."

"I shall retrieve Artoo and Threepio from the lab," Teal'c told them before disappearing.

"The lab?" Sam asked, confused.

"Siler's lab. There's a power unit thing been adapted for them," Jack explained.

Sam raised an eyebrow; "I would've paid good credits to see Hammond's reaction to that."

Jacob frowned. "Reaction to what?"

"Jack adapting our technology so that it was compatible with theirs."

Jacob snorted. "What, did he get the knowledge of the ancients downloaded into his brain…again?"

"Hey! I'll have you know I built the doodad on my own!"

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and gullible's written on the ceiling."

Jack looked up. "It is!" he joked. "And anyway, what do you mean again? It's only happened twice."

"Twice? That's one more time than I knew about," Sam interjected, throwing Jack a questioning look.

Jack shrugged. "There was this whole thing with Anubis and the Lost City…we kicked his ass, saved the planet, I got frozen, defrosted, and we all lived happily ever after. The end." Sam remained. She could sense his turmoil and pain over that episode; clearly not something he liked to talk about, something she understood completely. She'd never thought that life at the SGC would simply stop without her, but it brought the reality that she hadn't been there to help; perhaps she could have stopped that particular piece of suffering, or maybe another, if she had been there. It also served to remind her that she knew very little of what had been going on. "Let's move, shall we?" They all trooped out of the room after him, heading for the briefing room, where the table had been extended, and several more chairs placed around it. Pelari, Gelk, Borakahk, Janet and Daniel were already there as they took their seats, and Teal'c and the Droids weren't far behind.

Testament to the cliché, SG-1, and Sam, fell into old patterns automatically sitting at the head, next to Hammond. Jack and Sam on one side, Daniel and Teal'c on the other. The rest of them filled in the gaps, Jacob sitting protectively next to Sam. Little groups started up conversations between themselves as they waited for Hammond to finish the conversation he was having on the phone in his office, no doubt to some high-up official in a cushy little office in their own private little world.

Jack leaned slightly towards Sam. "What was that about?" he asked, meaning her conversation with the others.

"About why they didn't tell me they'd brought a Noghri team along," she explained just as quietly. They were both careful not to whisper, knowing that a whisper attracted more attention than muttering quietly did. A whisper aroused people's suspicions and was easily identifiable as such. Jack nodded, knowing he'd be just as pissed if he were in her shoes.

"So what have you been up to for the last two weeks then?" Sam asked, still muttering but not as quietly.

"Oh, this and that. Practising," he replied nonchalantly.

"Practising? I'm impressed."

"So you should be…Daniel still has no idea why he keeps getting really annoying itches when he's doing his diplomat thing…"

Sam snorted, "You haven't done any really fine control?"

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Fine control?"

"Like oh…the hairs on his leg?" she asked innocently.

Jack smirked. "You know, if you try to steal my seat as chief pain-in-the-ass, I may have to set Teal'c on you."

"You wouldn't dare."

Before Jack could retort, Hammond entered the room, and Sam and Jack rose respectfully to their feet, soon followed by the others in the room. Sam may not have been Air Force any more, but she still respected Hammond.

"Please, be seated. First of all, Maj-Sam, it's good to see you alive and well," Hammond began, favouring her with a smile.

"Likewise, General."

"Now, to save the time and effort of having to repeat this," Sam silently thanked the Force…telling it once would be bad enough… "I will be recording this debrief." He hit a button on a remote and nodded to Sam. "Ma-Doctor Carter, if you would begin from when you were first taken."

Jacob raised an eyebrow at the quick correction from Major to Doctor but said nothing as Sam began.

She focused on the table in front of her and her hands as they played idly with a pen, using a Force calming technique to quell her rising emotions. She knew that for this to be done properly, she would have to go into details. It would be her last debrief of her last mission though the 'gate. "When they first came through the 'gate, the Colonel, Daniel, and Teal'c, had already started towards the site, I forget what, and I was about to catch up. They came back as I was being dragged through the 'gate, but they weren't in time." Sam paused, not realising that she had slipped into the mindset of 'Major Carter'. "The last thing I saw was the Colonel take a shot, I thought in the region of the heart. After that, I was put in a holding room with all the other slaves before we were processed, tattooed, given slave implants, and given a basic immunising drug. We were put to work in a Glitterstim processing factory." Her voice had taken on a dead, mechanical quality as she tried to detach herself from the emotions that were so painful. She sat ram-rod straight in her chair, not looking at anyone and shutting them off from reading her emotions.

She coughed to clear her throat. "Glitterstim is a highly addictive drug, the most potent form of Spice, and very expensive. Because of its nature, it has to be processed in absolute dark, and each strand has to be precisely aligned or the sharp crystals on it grind each other to dust, making it worthless." Her hands were shaking as memories of a time she'd rather forget assaulted her.

She was surprised when Han cut in, his voice taking on a sad tone. "Glitterstim is real sharp; it cuts workers' hands open easy as anything, and sometimes, given warm, damp conditions, it encourages the growth of an infectious mould that slows healing." Hammond and Janet nodded…that explained the thin scars on her hands and arms.

Acutely aware of the eyes on them, Jack reached across and took hold of Sam's hand, giving it a squeeze and letting reassurance flow to her through the Force. He resisted the urge to grimace and yell at the speculative looks several of the people adopted…now was really not the time for people to wonder about them. Right now it was just a friend supporting a friend.

Acknowledging him only by not pushing the reassurance away, Sam took a deep breath and continued. "I was there for three years before Telk sold me on to Terrell. Terrell took…certain measures against any of his workers being out of commission…" Jack detected a hidden meaning to that and decided to ask her later. "Including putting a slave implant in. The implant had a dead-man switch amongst other things. Even as soon as I started working, I found ways to make the equipment more efficient, and therefore safer." She let out a wry smile, "Average life expectancy upped from one or two days to one or two weeks." She could feel the horror radiating off of those in the room who had not heard this story in full – which was most of them – and blocked it off. "That was the only reason I agreed to make the changes; I wouldn't have helped Terrell in any way otherwise. Because of that, I became a 'favourite' of Terrell, and he allowed me certain privileges; including going out to cantinas, a few credits of my own whenever he was feeling 'kind'. He knew that he could hold my humanity against me and that I wouldn't condemn people to death by trying to escape.

"I bought myself a few things; gained other things from cheap-rate bounty hunters sent by Terrell's competitors." Her shoulders were tense, and it was obvious that this wasn't pleasant for her; disgust and bitterness evident in her voice. "I'd spend a lot of time in cantinas, trying to get away from the faces of people I knew would be dead soon. I couldn't give up, because I knew that there was a chance, however remote, that by keeping them alive for just a little longer would give them that chance to escape, or mean that less people were brought in as replacements, giving them a chance at freedom. Dentralla was one of the Wookie workers there, and when Luke brought about Terrell's arrest and our freedom, the Wookies chose Dentralla to carry out the Life Debt they all felt they owed me." At this memory, Sam smiled, looking away from the tabletop for the first time, the shaking in her hands slowing. "Luke insisted I became a Jedi, I became Corran's apprentice and trained." She shrugged. "A few years after that, we came across the Touched Virus – I guess from people taken before we gave them the cure – and tracked it from planet to planet, until I reached the Stargate. I asked Corran to help, and we tried to infiltrate and take the 'gate, but we were outmanoeuvred. We were there just in time to see SG-1 come through the 'gate, their fourth member being shot as we were surrounded and forced to leave."

Talking was easier now that the memories weren't so bad and Sam quickly detailed Teal'c's cure, gaining the help of the senate, and prep for the assault with the others, adding the occasional comment now.

Hammond shook his head, more than a little awe-struck. "All I can say is I'm sorry we couldn't rescue you," he told her sadly.

Sam nodded. She may have no longer harboured the subconscious anger at them, but to pull out old memories and then remind her of others would be like poking an angry Wookie.

"Due to the nature of your experience and the obvious emotional difficulties involved, I'll have a transcript of the tape written as your mission report." He gave her a kindly smile, to which she nodded. "If you'd like to take a break, we'll move on to the matter of this 'Force' when we continue."

As they rose to grab coffee, water, or whatever their preferred drink was, Hammond gestured SG-1, Sam, Janet, and Jacob over to the far corner.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news, people," he started quietly. "I just got off of the phone with the president. The CRDO – Civilian Research and Development Organisation – has demanded that their consultant be sent over to meet the 'aliens' and propose an exchange of information."

Sam couldn't help but notice the sudden darkening of everyone's faces, and the disgust and resentment that flowed from them. "What's this CRDO?" she asked bluntly.

"When the new president – President Hayes – came into power, he felt that it was inevitable that the SGC would come out into the open at some point, particularly after Anubis's attempted attack on Earth. Knowing that it would look really bad if it were a purely military organisation and that it was drawing billions of dollars of the tax-payers' money to fund it, he decided that there needed to be a civilian organisation that would be directly involved with it and that would raise money for it."

Hammond paused, and Daniel took up the explanation, "The CRDO is a civilian-run organisation that takes any discoveries, finds, information, and the like and develops it for public and commercial use. The royalties from patents and medical procedures, etc. is used to supplement most of the money."

Sam nodded. "You said they have a say in the running of it?"

"Not the defence and general running but the decisions over what's kept for development, who has access to it, the R&D side."

Sam sensed that there was more to whatever was causing their dark moods and raised an eyebrow at them.

"Their consultant is a man who had prior experience and knowledge of the SGC," Jack explained, grimacing. "Kinsey."


	22. Adjusting

**Chapter 22 – Adjusting**

Sam growled, "Why couldn't someone have killed him!"

Hammond, Janet, and Jacob looked at her in shock but SG-1 was used to her gruff bluntness and knew that it was as much for show than anything, though they doubted she'd hesitate to kill him if given a reason.

Having lived on Nar Shadaa, she had adopted the defence of intimidation. If people were intimidated, then they were less likely to cause trouble. Unless they were stupid, which most of the occupants of the Smugglers' Moon were.

"It gets worse. We're pretty sure that the powers behind the CRDO have their hand in the grease that is the NID pie."

"Most of them," Daniel corrected. "There are a few genuine members of the council."

Hammond turned to Sam. "I know that your initial reaction is going to be to get them away or cover up for them, but there have already been several displays of an immense and supernatural power, and it's obvious that they're technologically advanced. Kinsey has somehow managed to get a hold of a lot of information, and we don't know how." Hammond paused before continuing gently, "He'll do his utmost to get access to all of this or at the very least, the aliens…we've seen it before, and he's had successes that we haven't been able to stop in recent years." Hammond paused again, letting all of this sink in. "It's your call, major…"

The skin around Sam's eyes tightened visibly at the use of her former rank, and she grimaced as she thought it over. "There's always the option of getting away from here, but to do that, we'd put you at risk…I doubt they'll give Jack command of the SGC, especially if they've got another person more sympathetic to their cause lined up."

Hammond nodded tensely. "They'd take the opportunity to put a civilian in power."

Sam stared at Jack for a moment, forehead creased in frantic contemplation. "I daresay Jack would have made General a long time ago if things had happened differently." She fell silent once more, chewing her lip sub-consciously. After a while, she nodded decisively. "We'll do this the diplomatic way. We'll brief them later, and they can make a plan of action to deal with this; I think Leia may just about be able to handle Kinsey."

Jacob frowned. "Are you sure about this? Remember that it will be you they're after too…I've seen you do some strange things recently…"

"Dad, Leia was a Princess of one of the most powerful and respected planets in the Galaxy. She faced down Darth Vader and defied the Emperor; the two most evil, and most powerful men in the Galaxy, she led the Rebel Alliance, and she founded an inter-planetary government in the after-math of a Civil war that caused the death of billions upon billions, including her home planet. I think she'll be fine."

Jacob glanced across at the small woman who was leaning against her husband; both of whom had a profoundly sad look on their faces. "I see."

"And make no mistake." Sam's eyes hardened and her voice took on a knife-like edge of steel. "If it comes down to it, I will get these people out of here if we have to knock out the entire base to do so."

"She will not be alone in her attempt," Teal'c informed them, glowering. He knew what it was like to be taken as an alien.

"Me three," Jack chimed in, the cheery comment at odds with his threatening tone and stiff posture.

"Me…four…" Daniel added.

Sam shot them a grateful smile. "Thanks, but I can't ask you to do that."

"Sam it's not optional." Jack caught her gaze and held it. "Where you go, I go."

Jacob narrowed his eyes at Jack and Sam but remained silent once again.

Sam nodded slowly. "Daniel stays with Janet, though. I'm not going to let any more families be split up."

Daniel frowned but nodded and caught hold of Janet's hand.

"Lets do this, then; the more we hold back, the more ammunition Kinsey has against us."

They reconvened at the table, and Sam looked down the table at the other Jedi. "We're going to tell all." Corran raised an eyebrow at her. "We have a situation with a not-so-nice faction of the government…we'll be briefed later. The crux of it, though, is that if we hold back then they'll have more to use against us."

Leia nodded in understanding. "If we hide anything and they find out, then they can discredit us."

Hammond nodded. "Then we'll begin." He hit the button on the remote again, and Sam spoke as if they'd just begun.

"Master Skywalker is the most knowledgeable about the Force and the leader of the Jedi, so I'll leave it to him to explain."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Thanks. The Force is life energy. It surrounds us and binds everything together. Certain individuals have an ability to access it and use it. Depending on the individual, there are many different skills, strengths, and inclinations. The Jedi are the protectors of the Galaxy and users of the Light side of the Force."

"Are there beings of the Dark side?" Janet asked.

"Yes, though there aren't many, and we do our best to stop people from falling to the Dark side."

"Our father, Darth Vader, fell to the Dark side and served the Emperor. Together, they very nearly took over our Galaxy, ruling with fear and hatred." The bitterness fled from Leia's voice as she made her next comment, a slight edge of pride creeping into it. "But in the end, he returned to the light and killed the Emperor."

Jack frowned. "Wait a minute, I thought Luke killed him?"

Luke shook his head. "That's just what the public think and say. No-one could believe that he could just turn on the Emperor. The Goa'uld in Derren turned to the dark side…when Sam killed him, the Dark-side energy in him was released, which is what caused the blue lightening effect. The same happened to the Emperor when he died, although he was falling down a shaft in the Death Star and his was much more powerful."

Hammond shook his head at the complexity of it and brought the topic back to what he needed to know. "So what exactly is it that you can do with the Force?"

"There are many uses, depending on the person." Luke grinned; he always enjoyed showing people for the first time and seeing the wonder on their faces. "Telekinesis, Sensory enhancement, increasing strength, split-second precognition in fights…there are a lot of variances and different uses for skills. We can sense other people's emotions unless they consciously block them out, we have enhanced healing; a lot of it is enhancement of natural abilities. One of the least common skills is the ability to plant images into the minds of people who aren't blocking them or aware of them."

Luke paused and Sam jumped in, "Another rare one is the ability to absorb energy and either use it or dissipate it…that's something that I'm particularly good at." Sam gave them a slightly proud smile.

Jacob looked at her sceptically. "How can we be sure that you can do this?"

Sam shrugged and resisted the urge to smile. With one hand, she gestured for her coffee mug to rise into the air and float over the table. Using the physical gestures that were almost habitual to her, she made the cup roll over, the liquid bubbling out in one large bubble that was reminiscent of a liquid in zero-gee. She played around with it for a few seconds before returning it to its mug and putting it back down. "Why not?"

Jacob turned to her with wide eyes before he lowered it, allowing Selmak to appear. "This is most unusual. Do you know what causes this?"

Sam shrugged. "The Force."

"But what is it that causes it?"

"I was going to ask the same question," Janet chimed in, a curious look on her face.

"We don't know…it just is."

"You have no explanation?" Janet was incredulous. "I'd like to run some tests if you don't mind?"

"No. Trust me Janet, thousands of years of research by Doctors and Medi-droids haven't uncovered anything; I very much doubt you will."

"But-"

"But nothing." Sam's voice was hard and all humour gone from her face. "If, after this malarkey with Kinsey, we're still here, then it's possible that – if they're willing – you might be able to, but not until then and not without permission."

Janet frowned and nodded. "Of course."

Luke and Corran shared a look; what was making Sam so protective over them? They were also wondering what she must have been like before that; with the exception of Daniel, Jack, and Teal'c, the people she knew were continually shocked by things she did, or said.

"So it's just Sam, Luke, Mara, and Corran who can use the Force?" Hammond asked.

"No, I have a little rudimentary training," Leia told him with a smile.

Jack waved a hand in the air a little. "Uh, I can, General. Kind of." Three sets of eyes swivelled disbelievingly at him. "Not much, though."

Janet pondered this for a moment before nodding in understanding. "That's why M-Sam could put you into a healing trance but not anyone else."

"Yup."

"So you can float things and stuff then?" Jacob asked.

"No…I'm not that good." He put the pen he had been flicking on the table and concentrated. It rose wobbily into the air and wove its way towards Jacob, attempting to draw a line down his face. It failed when Jacob cottoned on and swiped it out of the air, glaring at Jack.

"I think we can safely say that Jack can do it," he grumbled.

"I've only been learning two weeks, though, and I spent a lot of that time prepping for the assault on the 'gate."

Hammond sighed and looked at his watch before using the remote to turn the video off. "I suggest you prepare for Kinsey's arrival tomorrow and get some rest."

They all rose to their feet and headed off, Daniel guiding them back to their rooms. Sam, however, hung back and shooed Jacob and Jack on.

"What is it m-Sam?" Hammond was really finding it hard to remember to call her by her given name rather than her rank.

"Sir, I'd like my Lightsabers back please, as, I suspect, would the others."

Hammond frowned. "Lightsabers?"

"Cylinders, about so big, press a button and they turn into big glowing sword-things…"

"I'm afraid not; you know I can't allow any weapons loose on base."

"General, I don't think you understand. My Lightsabers are a part of who I am…I train with them, I sleep with them…I haven't been without them since I made them."

"I can't allow that, Sam, I'm sorry."

Sam sighed. "General, please; I'm not going to run off and attack the base."

"It's too much of a risk."

Sam's face hardened. She could kill any one of the people on this base by simply cutting of their supply of oxygen to their brain… "It's not like I'm asking for an automatic rifle, Sir."

Hammond scrutinised her for a moment. It was obvious that she wasn't going to give up without a fight…and if the NID tried anything…"Very well."

"Of course, sir…they're simply a ceremonial trinket required to be worn by Jedi law."

"I'll have them sent to your quarters…they've been prepared and some of your belongings have been taken out of storage."

"Thank you, Sir." Sam gave him a big grin before leaving, finding her father and Jack waiting for her.

"What was that?" Jack asked as they fell into step beside her.

"Just asking General Hammond if we could have our Lightsabers back."

"Oh?"

"They'll be delivered to my door."

"Lightsabers?" Jacob interrupted in confusion.

"Weapons of the Jedi…I'll show you later." Jacob nodded slowly before shrugging it off. "So what are we going to do about Kinsey?"

Sam sighed… "I think have an hour or two's rest and gathering info before we meet in the VIP common area."

Jacob nodded. "You want me to relay that to the others, get Daniel on pulling some research? You look like you need to rest."

"Sure… I'll go find my…" she turned to Jack, "where are my quarters?"

Jack smirked, "I'll show you."

Jacob narrowed his eyes at them before waving his goodbye and heading off.

Boarding an empty elevator, Jack keyed the right floor, turning to Sam with a worried look on his face. "You okay?"

"Tired," she replied. Her restoring sleep had been interrupted rather rudely by Jacob's arrival, and she hadn't bothered to tap into the Force to replenish herself. That didn't include the emotional tiredness, either.

Jack pulled her close for a brief hug, lending her his strength for a moment.

When they arrived at her new quarters, Sam was surprised to find that some of her old clothes had been stored in there and there were a few boxes marked as 'Sam's book's' or 'Sam's stuff', all in either Jack's untidy scrawl, Daniel's semi-neat handwriting or Teal'c's precise script. A few were marked by either Cassie or Janet, too, she saw.

Letting the door click closed behind her, she wandered over to one box and opened it, pulling out a frame. Staring at the old team photo, taken at the Alpha site so many years before, she felt some of her recently stirred up emotions rise again, threatening to spill forth. Putting it down and picking up a new one, she stared in wonder at the image of Daniel in a dress-suit, with Janet in a beautiful white gown and Cass in an elegant lilac bridesmaid dress.

She smiled wistfully at it. "Wish I could have been there," she said, feeling Jack's hand rest lightly on her shoulder.

"So did we."

Sam put the photo down and turned towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Thank you," she said, knowing that it would have been him who had put the photo in there.

Jack smiled. "No problem." He leaned in and shared a long kiss with her. "I thought you'd died," he told her quietly, when they pulled apart.

"So did I until I landed in the 'gateroom. Who sent the code?"

"Artoo, I think."

Sam smiled and leaned in for another kiss, this one turning rapidly more passionate, both of them oblivious to the people who were walking up and down the corridor outside. They were both surprised when the door opened and an airman walked in, shortly followed by another, carrying all of the lightsabers between them.

Jack and Sam broke off and turned towards them in surprise, Sam raising an eyebrow at them.

"Uh…General Hammond sent us with the things you wanted, Ma'am, Sir…" they stuttered, obviously surprised, as they carefully deposited the Lightabers on the top of the nearest cabinet.

"Thank you, Dismissed," Jack ordered, arms still around Sam's waist. As soon as they'd left, Jack let out a groan. "The whole base will know a version of that within about ten minutes," he groused.

"So? It's not as if I'm your 2IC any more."

"Hmmph. Doesn't mean I want everyone to know about it."

"You're worried about that? By the time it reaches Dad, we'll have been having wild Wampa sex on the 'gate room floor."

"Aw crap!"

* * *

Captain Hailey knocked timidly on the door to the quarters that had been assigned to Major Carter. "Ma'am?" she called when she received no reply. She really didn't want to go in there just in case she found anything strange, but she had drawn the short straw for it.

No-one had seen either her or Colonel O'Neill for over two hours, not since the two airmen walked in on them doing apparently unspeakable things. She knew better than to believe what had obviously been an exaggerated story, but nonetheless, she didn't want to be the one to catch them in a compromising – and potentially disturbing – position. Especially when it was a person that they had all given up hope on. They thought that she was dead. They'd still held out hope for the rest of SG-1, who hadn't been gone quite as long, but after seven years, they'd grieved and moved on.

The return of a lost compatriot did wonders for moral, though, especially one as well liked and respected as Major Carter.

After several more attempts and failures at receiving a reply, she braced herself, setting her jaw forwards before opening the door, making as much noise as possible.

"Hello, Ma'am, Doctor Jackson sent me to get you to-uh, hello, sir." The two officers were lying spooned together on the bed and Colonel O'Neill had his arm wrapped around Major Carter's waist, resting in a precarious position. Fully clothed, to her relief.

Lifting his head from the curve of the Major's neck, where it had been smushed into her hair, the Colonel looked blearily up at her, squinting into the light.

"What?" he barked. The confused, sleepy look on his face could only be described as 'cute'; not something she usually associated with the ex black-ops Colonel.

"Uh, Doctor Jackson sent me to tell Major Carter that it was about time they started their brief now."

"Oh. Right." He leaned towards her and mumbled something at her. She mumbled back and he looked back over at Hailey. "How bad are the rumours?"

"Excuse me, sir?" Hailey frowned, not understanding what he meant.

"'Bout _Doctor_ Carter and me?"

Hailey squirmed and grimaced. "You hadn't made it as far as the bed," she told them grudgingly.

"Captain, you're witness to the fact that for once, I am right, and Sam is wrong."

"Sir?" First, he'd made a point of calling her Doctor, and now he'd relapsed into Sam?

"She thought we'd be having…what was it?"

"Wild Wampa sex on the gateroom floor."

"Right; Wild Wampa sex by now."

Hailey gaped, floored by the openness and friendly humour shared between them; something she hadn't seen before in 'perfect little major' Carter, though it was almost to be expected from the Colonel.

The colonel turned back the short distance to the still prone form of Carter."What is a wampa, anyway?"

"Big, hairy, grumpy thing that lives on Hoth, likes to eat people."

"Oh. Eat people?"

"Luke."

"Ah."

They must have suddenly seen that she was still standing there as the Colonel redirected his gaze to her and waved her off. "Thanks, dismissed."

She started to leave and then turned back to them and, taking a deep breath, said one last thing. "Major Carter, Ma'am, on behalf of every one of the members of the SGC who have been here long enough to remember you, I'd like to say that were glad you're alive and that you're back."

Without waiting to see her reaction, Hailey snapped a salute, spun on her heel and walked out.

As soon as she was halfway down the corridor, she let out a breath that she hadn't realised she'd been holding. That was the reason that they hadn't simply delegated the task to a lowly airman.

News of Sam Carter's return had spread like wildfire, as had the rumours about her being able to fly, stop bullets with her hand, and to kill a person with blue lightening. Everyone knew that these were exaggerated, but they also knew that anything was possible at the SGC and the truth might be just as amazing, if only in a different way.

When Hailey returned to her lab, she found several people gathered there, including her CO, Colonel Reynolds, who was looking at them all as if they were mad.

"Sir? What can I do for you?"

"I just came by for some information on our last mission…what are all these people doing in your lab, Captain Hailey?"

"Uh…"

"Bearing in mind that half of them ran when I arrived."

"Well, Doctor Jackson asked us to send someone to tell Major Carter to meet them for their briefing, and I drew the short straw, sir."

"Right…?"

"We decided to let her know that the SGC was glad she was okay, Sir," Major Pilman cut in. "It was my fault sir, I told her to do it." He stepped forward, jaw set and willing to take the blame.

Reynolds stared at them for a moment, a glimmer of humour lighting up his eyes. "Now I know Captain Hailey is not someone who usually gives two damns about rumours and gossip…the rest of you, however, I'm not so sure about. This didn't have anything to do with the rumours that have been flying around over the last two hours, did it?"

Everyone in the room with the exception of Hailey and Reynolds shifted uncomfortably.

"I thought so." He looked around the room sternly, the glimmer in his eyes still there. "Next time, try and be a little more subtle." He broke into a small smile. As long as the rumours weren't detrimental to the 'victims,' then there was nothing wrong with them…they did wonders for base moral and inter-team friendships.

"Uh, yessir," Pilman replied, slightly taken aback. Hailey grinned; she knew what her CO was like and hadn't been at all worried.

"I'll come back for those files later, Captain."

"Yessir." She resisted the urge to laugh as he left, and everyone tried to salute him all at once within the confined room.

As soon as he was gone, they all crowded impatiently around her central workbench, looking at her expectantly. "What?" she asked.

"Captain…spill," Pilman ordered her with a smile.

She shrugged. "I told her we were glad she was back."

"Not that!"

Hailey sighed; she hated gossiping, but they wouldn't leave her alone till she 'spilled'.

"Nothing to tell, really. Colonel O'Neill was there, but they were asleep on the bed."

"Together?"

"Yes."

"So they were sleeping together in the bed?"

"No…they were sleeping together _on top_ of the bed, fully clothed." She smiled a little. "It was…cute."

"Never thought I'd hear Hard-ass Hailey use the word 'cute'."

Hailey levelled her gaze at the back of the group, where she was sure the voice had spoken from. "Then maybe you would be better off not listening to rumours and gossip." She pointedly began typing up a report on her latest experiment, disappointed when no-one left. She looked up at them and raised one thinly arched eyebrow.

"Did you find out anything else?"

She sighed in frustration. "Only that Major Carter jokes more and she…I dunno, I guess she's not the 'perfect little major' anymore. Happy now? Then go!" she shooed them away impatiently, wondering why she'd let herself get roped into this. Although she had relaxed a lot since she first joined the SGC, there were certain things that would still wind her up to no end.

* * *

"Howdy, Campers!" Jack called as he sauntered into the room. "We bring gifts," he added as Sam followed him in, holding up a Lightsaber and silently asking whose it was. Luke held up a hand, and Jack threw it to him, passing the second one to Corran. Sam passed Mara and Leia theirs.

"We're allowed these?" Luke asked as he clipped his to his belt.

"Yup, they're, uh, ceremonial, and required to be worn by Jedi law."

Mara snorted. "Of course they are."

Sam cast her eyes over the room. Everyone was here except for-

"Jacob?" Jack exclaimed as the Tok'ra stalked into the room, cocking his head to one side and reaching out with the Force.

"Jack O'Neill, are you sleeping with my daughter?" Jack could sense that Jacob was somewhere between anger, irritation, and amusement.

"Well, that depends what you mean by slee-" the trace of amusement that he had previously sensed vanished in an instant. "I can honestly say no, I am not and I never have." _Yet_, he silently added.

Some of the tension seemed to seep out of Jacob's shoulders, but most of it remained.

"Then why the hell does most of the SGC seem to think you are?"

"Ah…well that's just…you know what the SGC's like for gossip."

Jacob narrowed his eyes. "All of the gossip is based in some kind of truth."

"Uh, yes, of course it is," Jack replied awkwardly.

Sam rolled her eyes and decided to cut in, pushing back the anger that had tried to rise at Jacob's angry question. "Two airmen walked in on us kissing, that's all, Dad."

"Kissing? You were _kissing _Jack!"

Sam folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow at him. "Yes, and?"

"And…he's Jack!"

"Gee, thanks," Jack interjected sarcastically.

"Yes, I know," Sam replied fluidly.

"And…you're my baby girl," he finished weakly.

Sam locked eyes with him. "Hate to break it to you, but I haven't been your baby girl in a long, long time." He held her gaze for a long while before finally breaking it off.

"No, you're not, are you." It was a statement, not a question, said quietly and sadly.

Someone coughed and they jumped into action, Daniel sneakily walking up to Jacob and muttering in his ear, "That doesn't mean she isn't your daughter any more."

"Daniel, you filled them in on Kinsey?"

"Yeah, he sounds like Fey'lya," Han answered, giving them a wry grin.

Jack grimaced. "Yeah, that's what we thought."

"Leia, I want you to do the diplomat stuff. Kinsey's going to try everything he can to discredit us, make us seem like the enemy, and eventually gain the right to make us test subjects for the CRDO. He has no scruples and he'd just as well see sentient experimentation that anything else. He'll try and force us to give technology that can be used for weapons and the like…most of all, he wants power."

Leia gave her a wry grin. "Sounds like a senate meeting. I won't let any of you down."

Dentralla growled a comment, which Threepio dutifully translated. "Mistress Dentralla respectfully asks what we will do if Mistress Leia is unable to talk her way out of the situation."

Sam's face turned grim. "Then we'll dial a safe planet and get out of here, without using lethal force. That includes taking out General Hammond; he can't be implicated in this."

"Sam…how are we going to do that?" Corran asked sceptically. "If this Kinsey's anything like Fey'lya, then he'll use it against them anyway."

"That's what this briefing is about…the rest could have been done easily."

A few hours later, they had a plan laid out, carefully engineered so that none of those who were staying behind would be implicated in any way.

Sam, Jack, Teal'c, Corran, Luke, and Mara had taken the lead of this, with the occasional insight from Major Gelk or Pelari as they were the key tacticians and knew most about the SGC procedures and the like.

Sam slumped back in her chair, running a tired hand through her hair.

"You okay?" Corran asked her, giving her a worried look.

She nodded. "Just tired…only had a few hours sleep." She yawned.

Corran nodded in understanding. After that long in a healing trance, she'd need fifteen or sixteen hours' sleep to catch up, rather than the meagre three or four that she'd managed.

Over the few hours that they'd been figuring out the plan, he'd noticed that she wasn't as distant with them as she had been earlier. She wasn't quite as close as she usually was, but she was building up her trust in them.

"It's not that I don't trust you," she told him quietly, eyes still closed. "It's just that I let myself get close to you, and it hurts that you didn't trust me with it."

"I'm sorry, it's just…"

"I know, but you can do that and expect me to just bounce right back straight away."

Corran nodded and gave a wistful smile. "If Mirax knew about this, she'd have given me an earful," he told her.

"I'm sorry…we'll find a way back." She wouldn't let herself feel guilty; it was entirely the fault of the Goa'uld and she had no illusions about that.

Corran snorted, not believing that it would be possible. "One thing at a time."

They were started out of their quiet reverie when Dentralla lifted a table and sent it flying, growling furiously at Threepio.

"Oh my! I apologise, I didn't mean to offend you-ahhh!" Threepio went flying as the large Wookie clouted him on the back of the head.

Sam was immediately on her feet, rushing forwards and grabbing the Wookie's arms in a loose, comforting grip. "Hey, calm down 'Tralla." Dentralla roared at her but at least stopped beating the defenceless droid. Sam coaxed her into calming down, comforting her quietly as the SF's who had come rushing in found themselves held back by an invisible barrier.

"Have you been stuck in here the entire time?" she asked her quietly.

Dentralla huffed a forlorn affirmative, sitting heavily on the large sofa.

"Thought as much," Sam muttered.

"Sammie, what is it?" Jacob asked, warily keeping his distance.

"Wookies are tree-dwellers. Their homes are built in huge trees that stand tens of kilometres off the floor, and they don't like confinement, particularly underground. 'Tralla's particularly bad, because she's been deprived of freedom for so much of her life, and she was locked in a tiny cage between work years ago." Everyone had surprised looks on their faces; they didn't know any of this. Sam had only found out after one long trip across the galaxy when Dentralla had started going crazy on board the _Peacemaker_. Han and Leia had noticed that Chewie would become irritable on long trips, but he had got used to travel on ships years ago.

Sam glanced over the rest of them, scanning them with her Force-sense as she did it. "I guess you're all getting a little fed up of this room." She paused for a moment before looking at Daniel. "You know when Kinsey arrives tomorrow?"

"Uh, afternoon I think."

"Good." She glanced at Dentralla for a moment before beckoning her to come with her. She silently beckoned Jack to join them as she informed the others that she'd be back shortly.

"What are you up to?" Jack asked her as soon as they'd passed the SF's that were guarding the door, Dentralla loping sullenly along beside them.

"If we meet with Kinsey with 'Tralla and Chewie like this, it's only going to be trouble. Besides, it's not fair on them, so I was thinking a little off-world trip." She ignored the looks that they were getting from people they passed.

"Ah. Where?"

"Uh…depends where it would be daylight at the moment, or nearly daylight."

"Right…the-"

"Major Carter!"

"Oh God, Felger."

"He's still here?"

"Unfortunately."

"Major, you're really alive," he exclaimed breathlessly as he caught up with them. He moved as if he was going to hug her, but stopped when Jack coughed pointedly.

Sam smiled for a split second. "Felger."

"Oh wow…we all thought you were dead, and there was this beautiful memorial, but now you're back and you're…you…and you have a giant alien friend…wow…"

"Is there a point to this? We were heading somewhere," Jack interrupted.

"Oh, no...well yes, but no. I just wanted to say that I'm glad you're back." He moved forwards again, as if to hug her, and Sam held up a hand. Felger bounced back off of the Force wall she had raised and rubbed his nose. "Heh, I'b oday, I'b oday…jusd hurd by dose."

Dentralla, who had been fidgeting and shifting from foot to foot finally got fed up of the delay and roared in his face, telling him precisely what she thought of him before grabbing him by the shoulders and lifting him bodily out of the way. She deposited him none to gently behind them, allowing them to carry on walking.

"Uh, bye!" he called as they continued down the corridor.

Sam shook her head as they walked. "He means well and all, but he's just so…"

"Creepy? Weird? Obsessive?"

"I was going to say accident-prone, but that works too."

They continued without interruption to Hammond's office and, seeing him talking irately on the phone, they waited outside.

After about ten minutes, he waved them in, a sorrowful and pained look on his face, echoed by the angry pain that they could sense rolling off of him.

"Sir, I'd like to request that we be allowed off-world overnight," Sam started, deciding that discretion was the better part of valour. She felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach when Hammond shook his head at them.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that."

"What, why not?" Jack demanded as Sam laid a calming hand on Dentralla's arm.

"Colonel…" Hammond warned, not liking the Colonel's tone.

"Sorry Sir, but there's no reason-"

"General, this isn't just some whim, 'Tralla's going to go-"

"If you'll let me finish," Hammond cut in icily. "I've just been ordered to place the two of you under arrest."

"What!" Jack bellowed. "Why?"

Hammond shook his head. "For breach of the anti-frat regs…you'll be facing court-marshal in two days."


	23. Confrontation

**Chapter 23 – Confrontation **

Sam's posture immediately stiffened, and she unconsciously slipped one hand to rest on the hilt of the lightsaber clipped comfortably to her side.

"What exactly do you mean, General?" she asked icily, her tone sending shivers down both Jack and General Hammond's spines. Behind her, Dentralla growled in barely controlled rage. Although she may not have known exactly what anti-frat regs were, she had a fair idea, and she knew _exactly_ what a Court Marshall was. Even had she not known that, the change in Sam's posture, her tone, and the slight movement towards her sabre were things that only ever happened when Sam was controlling a rage, feeling threatened, or even both.

"Exactly what I said," the bald General replied, refusing to back down even as a vein, pulsing in his temple belied the stress he was under.

"General you-"Jack began, only to be cut off by Hammond.

"Colonel…" he began warningly, giving the veteran his patented and much practised 'watch your mouth; I'm your superior officer' look. "I just received my orders via Colonel Davis in Washington."

Sam's icy mask thawed a little as she raised an eyebrow, "Paul Davis?"

Hammond nodded in the affirmative and Sam lifted both eyebrows in a 'wow, that's cool' expression. Within seconds of that small movement the ice had re-frozen, forming an unbreakable representation of her resolve.

"Colonel Davis explained to me that the CRDO had somehow not only heard rumours of your fraternisation, but had also managed to get together enough proof to make a legitimate allegation."

Jack narrowed his eyes, instinctively knowing who had brought this about: "Kinsey," he growled angrily, spinning away from the sympathetic Hammond, frosty Sam, and menacing Dentralla. A feeling of rage filled him and he moved to punch the filing cabinet to his left but found his violent thrust restrained as if someone had caught his fist and stopped it in mid air. After struggling angrily against it for a moment, his fury swelled momentarily before burning itself abruptly out.

Finally relaxing against the immovable grip he turned back to the bewildered face of General Hammond again and the reproachful eyes of Sam. He shot her a half-hearted glare before averting his eyes in a manner reminiscent of a sulky toddler.

"You've got to learn to control your anger, Jack," she admonished him in a quiet but commanding tone.

"I think I have a right to be angry, don't y-"

"No." Sam's voice was certain, and Jack could detect an undercurrent of bitter pain to it. He didn't know that as she spoke, Sam was remembering a dark-side induced hallucination in which she had succumbed to her anger and killed three people she loved, stripping the life from their bodies. The later realisation that it had all been the dark side playing with her, tricking her into falling to the dark side - even for a brief moment - had done nothing to diminish the bitter self loathing that she had felt for a few long moments afterwards. And the memory was not likely to fade either. She had learned her lesson and she prayed that Jack never had to. "Anger is _never_ the way. Take away our anger, and you take away a large part of what makes us sentient…the ability to see something that makes you angry and _know_ that it is wrong is just one of the things that separates us from the Goa'uld. But let that anger control you and you will become a Goa'uld in everything but body."

Sam and Jack locked gazes, and in the moments that followed, the only sound was the quiet drone of the ventilation unit that supplied much needed oxygen down to the depths of the mountain facility.

After several heated moments, Jack was the first to look away, glancing submissively at the floor before returning his gaze to the astonished General in front of him.

The impromptu lesson over, Sam's gaze was once again levelled at Hammond. "You were saying?" She didn't bother to apologise for the interruption, knowing that there was no particular reason for her to do so. She wasn't in the wrong.

"Uh." He took a couple of seconds to gather his thoughts before continuing. "According to Colonel Davis, Kinsey was one of the main instigators of this farce, finding some minor loophole that centred around the fact that you had been declared MIA, but not presumed dead."

"What!" Jack exclaimed, before biting back and visibly restraining himself.

"General, that's ridiculous."

"I know, Jack, but Colonel Davis is working on getting the orders rescinded, and is certain that he will be able to do so, but he thinks it will be several hours before he will be able to do so."

Sam frowned, glancing at Dentralla when her Life-partner uttered a questioning growl and repeated it to Hammond and Jack. "So then why is Kinsey even bothering then?"

Hammond shook his head wearily before moving behind his desk and dropping tiredly into his seat. "You know as much as I do, Sam." He sighed and gestured to them to pull up a chair each. Dentralla opted to remain standing stiffly just behind Sam rather than to perch precariously on a chair that would have been far too small.

"He's delaying," Jack declared, a look of irritation on his face.

"What for, though?"

Jack shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

The sub-zero expression on Sam's face finally gave way to a look of confused contemplation. "Kinsey and the CRDO want access to the non-humans and the Jedi, right?"

"Yes; they've applied for custody and been turned down."

"Then you can bet your blaster that Kinsey's buying time to make some kind of a move to gain custody."

Hammond frowned. "Don't you mean 'bet your boots'!"

Sam stared blankly at him for a second. "What?"

"You said 'bet your blaster'; don't you mean 'bet your boots'?"

Sam raised an eyebrow and pushed back the smirk that attempted to rise. "Do you see 'Tralla wearing any boots?"

Hammond raised his brows and leaned around the table, glancing at the impatiently tapping toe-claws of the Wookies feet.

"Blasters are far and away a more valuable thing to have than boots," Sam explained wryly.

"Of course." Once again, Sam could sense that Hammond was taken aback by this, not having the wake-up call that the rest of SG1 had been given to help make the mental adjustment.

Sam shrugged and glanced away. "Now maybe you understand just why I was so adamant to have the sabers back." She told him, giving him something to think about.

Forehead creased slightly in thought, Hammond opened his mouth to speak but cut himself off when the red phone started to ring. "Hammond."

The three other people in the room retreated to the far end of the office to give the General a modicum of privacy during the short, curt conversation of which all they heard were Hammond's 'Yes, Mr. President', 'no Mr. President', 'I understand that, sir' and 'Thank you Sir's'.

When he replaced the handset calmly back on the receiver, he clasped his hands tensely in front of him, waiting for them to re-take their previous positions.

"As I'm sure you're aware, that was the president," he began, a look of tense relief on his face. "While he agrees with us that the charges are pointless and ridiculous, the loop-hole that Kinsey has found is very much a legal one and has to be followed. In his own words 'it can't be one rule for you and another for everybody else'.

"However, the people he had looking at this told him that before anything about a court martial happened, there could be a hearing to determine whether the circumstances surrounding the 'relationship' include extenuating circumstances that void the charges."

"So…no court martial?"

"No, Jack, no court martial."

"Well that's good, right!"

Sam grimaced. "Except that if Kinsey is just trying to buy time, this tribunal or whatever it is means that he will still have a considerable gain on time."

Hammond nodded sagely. "Now, due to the sensitive nature of the circumstances and the strength of your defence, all we will need to do is send the information that we would like to present in your defence to Washington, where it will be judged and they will either decide that they need to talk to you in person or throw the case out."

"So Kinsey only gets a few hours, as opposed to several days"

Hammond turned solemnly to Sam. "I think it best that we include the video footage of your de-brief, if you don't mind?"

Sam raised an eyebrow but shrugged. "Sure, go ahead."

"Thank you; Colonel Davis is choreographing it all, and I have the utmost confidence in his abilities as well as his loyalties to the SGC."

"We can do that now? Just…send stuff away like that?" Sam asked sceptically.

"Seven years is a long time to be gone, and there have been a lot of changes that wouldn't normally appear to people in that time," Hammond told her simply.

Sam nodded as she absorbed this, realising once again that she had missed a lot of developments in that time. The human race was evolving at phenomenal speeds at this end of the universe.

"So there's nothing we need to do?" she asked for confirmation.

Hammond gave her a smile and a shrug, "I would suggest that you get some rest and prepare for Kinsey's arrival tomorrow."

"We'll do that. Thank you, General," Jack said, giving him a thankful smile as he and Sam both moved to rise to their feet.

The tail end of his comment was, however, drowned out by Dentralla's pathetic, self-pitying whine.

"Oh, right," Sam muttered. "Sir, 'Tralla and Chewie are a race that live in tree-tops and, as I'm sure you can understand, being stuck down here and confined like this is understandably driving them insane. Is there any way that they would be able to move around a bit and get out of their quarters for a while?"

Hammond grimaced with the realisation that they'd all been stuck not only in the base, but in their own quarters for the best part of two weeks in no small part thanks to his own lack of foresight on the matter. "I think that, at this time, the best that I can do is to allow them out of their quarters. They can't go topside for obvious reasons…"

Jack shrugged. "What about the gym?" he asked, seeming as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You could do some training or something."

"I guess…it's better than nothing anyway, huh 'Tralla?"

The large biped yowled an emphatic yes, making Hammond flinch slightly as Sam finally gave a genuine smile.

Jack smirked. "Well then…let's grab the others and see how many of the base personnel we can scare." Throwing the bewildered General a loose salute, he sauntered out after Sam and Dentralla.

* * *

About half an hour later, the large group of people entered the large room that had been converted into a gymnasium for the SGC staff.

At the far end, a group of marines were having a small game of basketball and as one they all stopped and turned to gape at the aliens arriving. While they were used to 'aliens' being on base, they still usually looked human and it was a bit of a shock to see the group that had previously been so closely guarded and kept away from prying eyes.

Jack saw this and turned to them pointedly. "Don't mind us, boys, just pretend we aren't here." Turning reluctantly away, the 'boys' made a show of continuing their game, but it was obvious that they weren't entirely concentrating on it any more.

Jack gestured to the equipment at the farthest end of the room with a wave. "Help yourselves," he instructed, slightly at a loss now that they were all here.

They were all unsure of what to do and more than a little aware of the marines at the far end of the room. No one moved for several long minutes.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Jack finally muttered. "Come on people; you've been stuck in a stuffy VIP room for two weeks, I'm sure you can think of _something_ to do."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow, "SamCarter, I would be honoured if you would take part in a duel with me."

Sam grinned. "Sure!"

"See; that's the spirit."

Reaching out a hand, Sam gestured and called over two of the padded quarterstaffs that had become part of the equipment since they had become allies with the Jaffa Rebellion and increasing numbers of the Jaffa had stayed here from time to time. Moving to the centre of the floor mats that marked out the sparring area, Sam grabbed her staff out of the air and gave it a twirl. It was nothing like the elaborately balanced and carved replica staff-weapons that young Jaffa trained with but was a simple stick, soft wadding wrapped around it to prevent injury.

She tested out the weight and balance of it, wishing that it was a lightsaber as she would then have been more comfortable and had more control, but she pushed it away and fell into a comfortable fighting stance, Teal'c mirroring her.

They began slowly, jabbing and parrying to test out the other's defenses, but Teal'c soon found that he was more than matched by her and the movements became faster, more frenzied and hits came closer to home. Where Teal'c had the advantage of more than a century of practice and physical strength, Sam's movements and reactions were quicker; aided by the Force.

Circling around him once more, her top already soaked in sweat, she was vaguely aware that Luke and Mara had taken up staffs too and that Dentralla and Chewie were wrestling with each other in a variation of a Wookie-Cub's play-fighting game.

Han and Leia were content to sit on a bench at the side, talking quietly and watching the others while the Noghri Borakahk patiently taught Majors Gelk and Pelari some of the complex Noghri techniques for incapacitating an enemy without physically damaging them. Daniel had opted to spend some time with Janet as it was late and he didn't have the same need to rid himself of excess energy that the rest of them did.

Jack had coaxed Corran into sparring with him, though Corran wasn't sure if Jack just wanted the opportunity to hurt him a little. Despite Jack's very closed-off approach to his emotions, Corran had got the feeling that Jack wasn't overly impressed with their lack of faith in Sam during the fiasco two weeks ago.

Sam let the Force flow into her and along her muscles, watching Teal'c's movements with more than just her eyes. Sensing that he would strike high left, and then feint low right before kicking out she threw herself left, passed the point where he would strike and into a slow cartwheel. Twisting her legs in the air, she grasped hold of the weapon with her feet, using the Force to augment a twist that wrenched it out of the large man's hands, much to his surprise. The quarterstaff flew well out of his reach as he regained his balance, ready to use his body for defence. He was once again confounded when, instead of rising to attack, Sam landed in a crouch, twisting her own staff in her hands to swipe around and whack him on the back of the knees just sharply enough for him to feel it and jerk his knees forwards instinctively. At lightening speed, she spun back the other way, rising as she turned and hitting the still off-balance Jaffa across the chest, using the Force to push him a little with the equivalent power that the staff would have dealt in a real-life duel.

Switching the staff to her left hand, she reached out her hand and grabbed a flailing arm before he hit the ground, uttering a soft grunt as she caught his considerable weight.

Returned to his feet, Teal'c was breathing heavily as he bowed and took a moment to regain his breath. Sam wiped her hand on her trousers to rid herself of the layer of her own and now Teal'c's sweat.

"You are indeed a formidable opponent; I have never known anyone who could move that fast."

Sam shrugged. "Force-speed is a wonderful thing."

"Indeed."

The group was unaware that more people had arrived at the gym, intending to use the facilities before they began their night shift and were now talking to the marines in hushed voices.

After a short while of discussing the moves they had used during their sparring match and Sam trying to explain to Teal'c how she was able to use both the Force and her balance for the moves, Corran suggested that they have a little competition.

"It's an exercise we used to do at the CorSec Academy back on Correllia," he explained to them. "They used to get us doing it to both tire us out, give us all some experience with different opponents and styles, and as a teaching exercise. Just a little tournament against each other."

The exercise made sense because, while there might be rivalry between people they were all sensible enough not to take it seriously, and while those who were better gained experience and had to learn a little control and tactics, those who weren't as good learned new things, and learned from their experiences. Failing that, it was good physical exercise and bound to tire out even the most energetic of them.

Stepping back and allowing the first two opponents – Pelari and Gelk – begin their fight, Sam caught sight of the group of SGC staff, who were now muttering quietly to each other and not-so-subtly watching them. She uttered a low growl of frustration, something that she had picked up off of Dentralla after years of knowing her.

She made to go over there and give them a piece of her mind – they were not a freak show, there for their enjoyment – but she felt Jack's hand on her arm and turned to him.

His face was a picture of incredulity and barely checked amusement. "Did you just _growl!_"

Sam frowned at him. "What?"

"You did! You just growled," the older man crowed, smirking widely.

Sam narrowed her eyes at him and let loose another 'growl', at which Jack suddenly stopped grinning and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, I know that's a Wookie curse but…care to enlighten me!"

Corran leaned over and clapped a mock-comforting hand on Jack's shoulder. "Even I know that one. Put nicely…she just cast aspersions on your masculinity."

"Oh. Hey! That's not very nice."

Now it was Sam's turn to smirk. "It wasn't meant to be." Once again, she made to go over to the marines and their friends, and once again, she found Jack's hand on her arm, gently restraining her.

"Watch'ya doing?" he asked nonchalantly.

"I'm going to go and show those Jarheads why they really shouldn't be watching us like a freak show," she told him calmly.

"Sam…" Leia's voice was soft but insistent as she cut in. "I don't think you should do that…they aren't doing any harm, and the last thing we need right now is a confrontation."

Sam paused, grimacing as she realised the ex-princess's point.

"You know what this place is like…you do something stupid and the whole base will believe that you went berserk and started rampaging. That will be all Kinsey needs to get you locked away for being 'dangerous'."

Sam huffed and sat heavily back down on the bench. "Spoilsport," she muttered to show there were no hard feelings.

"Anything new on a way to get home?" Han asked mournfully. It was obvious that both the Solos and Corran were missing their families the most, and they were still hopeful.

Sam glanced at Jack, who shrugged. "The only people we know of who are capable of crossing inter-galactic spaces without a 'Gate are the Asgard."

"And we haven't been able to contact them in about four or five years now. We have been trying though," Jack finished for her.

"What happened to them?" Luke queried with a frown.

Jack shrugged again, still not knowing much about it. "They were fighting their own war with the replicators and….well, we think that they just kinda lost track of everything…Thor's popped in a couple times and said hi before popping back out again. Usually only to warn us that the Goa'uld were gonna try and wipe us out again, but that there was nothing they could do to help us."

They paused to applaud Major Gelk as she beat the Twi'lek Pelari and turned to face Borakahk.

"Have you considered trying to use the Force to find them?" Luke suggested, eyes following the moves of the well-trained fighters.

Sam looked slightly surprised at that suggestion. "How?"

"I don't know; it's not something I've particularly tried before, but if you were to meditate on it, try and get at least a partial lock on the co-ordinates…"

"It works best if you know the person quite well," Mara interjected, her face taking on the slight far-away look that Luke now knew meant she was thinking about her time as the Emperor's Hand.

"Jack would be better then," Sam told them without hesitation.

"Me? Why'd I have to do it?"

Sam gave him a sweet smile. "Because you know the Asguard better than the rest of us."

"But I don't know how to-"

"I'll show you."

"But-"

"No buts, Jack; they named a ship after you and it's always you that they beam out when they need help." She frowned. "At least, it was last I knew."

"Fine, whatever," he groused, more for effect than because he wasn't willing to give it a try for their sakes.

* * *

"So, who do you think will win? Mr. Teal'c or Big Hairy?" The burly Marine turned to the Tech Sergeant with an eyebrow raised, trying to work out the next round of betting for the little tournament. Several rounds in and it was Teal'c versus Dentralla and the bets were placed as they bowed to each other and started to circle.

"My money's on Big Hairy…she's damn fast, and she's strong too."

With each person only putting a few dollars on each bet, they never lost large amounts, but the SGC pool that had been running since its first few weeks of operation kept up a topic of conversation between even the Marines and the scientists.

"I dunno…Mr. Teal'c's pretty strong and fast himself," someone countered.

All the bets finally placed as Dentralla took her first swipe at Teal'c, the small group watched in awe as they circled each other.

Where Dentralla had an edge on the strength, Teal'c had slightly greater speed and was able to duck and dodge easier, darting around the increasingly frustrated Wookie.

Finally loosing her already short temper, she lashed out and over-stretched herself, leaving her off-balance and practically asking for Teal'c to sweep her legs out from under her.

She gave a fearsome Wookie curse as she went down, and continued to grumble as Teal'c placed one foot on her heaving chest and looked down at her, a trace of a triumphant smile on his face.

Stepping away and allowing her to rise to her feet, he gave her a solemn bow, sweat dripping off of his face as his own breathing rate returned to normal.

Next up was Jack and the odds for the betting favoured Teal'c heavily as it was common knowledge among the SGC that Jack O'Neill rarely beat the massive Jaffa in a sparring match.

What they didn't know, however, was that the ex-first prime of Apophis had not only recently recovered from effectively being dead for a day, and while he more than surpassed most humans physically, he had not yet recovered his previous stamina and was already tired.

As he circled O'Neill, his movements became increasingly sluggish and his reactions slowed by a fraction, and after fifteen minutes of blocked hits, Jack was eventually able to pass the large man's defences and finally took him down, to the amazement of the gathered personnel.

"Ten bucks on Colonel O'Neill." Dr. Felding was quick with her bet; certain in the knowledge that not only had Jack O'Neill just taken down Teal'c, but the Major Carter had been MIA for nigh on seven years and therefore stood no chance against the ex-black ops soldier. Apparently, the lightsaber fight in the Gateroom had been forgotten in light of the knowledge that the legendary Major Carter had returned. Her scientist peers apparently thought so, too, as did the two members of SG-23 that had appeared.

The marines who had been there to witness her sparring with Teal'c were certain that they would make a few easy bucks and put their money confidently on Sam.

All of the increasingly large group turned to watch as the two famed officers stood opposite one another.

"Try to use the Force," Carter instructed him as she visibly relaxed into a ready stance, quarterstaff held loosely in front of her. The SGC personnel traded questioning looks at the mention of this 'force' but turned back to the fight with an almost morbid curiosity.

O'Neill nodded and his face took on a look of intense concentration as they traded a few hits, each testing out the other's defences.

All of a sudden, Carter let loose a flurry of lightning-fast parries and ripostes, gently smacking O'Neill on the arm or leg each time. Stopping, she shook her head at him. "Jack, you've got to relax into it and listen to the Force. It'll guide your movements."

"You know what? I don't like this whole 'guiding my movements' thing. It sounds a whole lot too much like I don't have control."

"You have control; you don't have to move, but the Force will tell you when it's best to do so. It doesn't control you."

The night-shift staff were bewildered as this exchange happened, not recognising any of these terms. Even the context in which they were being used confused them so they contented themselves with enjoying the show, though those that bet on O'Neill were beginning to think that they had made the wrong wager.

O'Neill shook out his arms before settling back into a ready stance, this time looking a lot more relaxed. "Okay, listen to the Force."

Carter let loose another flurry of moves, but this time the slightly muffled sound of the padded quarterstaffs whacking each other punctuated the moves before they broke apart again.

O'Neill grinned. "And who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks?"

Carter matched his grin and raised an eyebrow, eyes flickering almost imperceptibly towards their oblivious audience. "I thought we established last night that you were anything but old."

O'Neill's jaw dropped, as did that of every one of the SGC personnel in the room. The fact that Sam had woken from her healing trance only earlier that day was completely lost on them as Jack laughed and settled for probing her defences a little before attacking full out.

Their attention was dragged away from their speculations as to just how virile Jack O'Neill was and back to the sparring.

O'Neill hit low left, feinted high right before coming in with an uppercut that would have disabled Carter's right arm in a true fight, only to find himself blocked each time before being forced quickly on the defensive.

Blocking one of her ferocious hits and managing to get in a shot to her right, O'Neill suddenly jumped, narrowly avoiding a swipe that would have taken his legs out in what seemed to be a precognitive move. Landing in a crouch, he made to use the same move on her as she rose from the floor, his staff slashing out and across at the height of her knees, moving to connect with the backs of her legs, but at the last minute, she back flipped, coming down on the other side of his staff and to his side, bringing her staff around in a wide arc and sending him sprawling to the floor from his already precarious crouch.

By the time he realised what had happened, he was looking directly at the end of her staff.

Dropping his head back to the floor, he lay there and regained his breath.

They were surprised to notice that Carter was barely even breathing heavily as she reached out a hand to help him off of the floor.

Within no time, the story of this amazing skill had spread through the SGC and speculation as to what she had been doing to acquire this skill had sprung up like wildfire.

* * *

"How nice of you to join us," Kinsey exclaimed as they rushed into the briefing room, looking a little rough around the edges. "While I'm sure that whatever you were doing to get so…flustered must have been of the utmost importance, we are on a schedule here."

Sam and Jack had the decency to make a show of looking apologetic despite Kinsey's insinuation. He was just sore because his attempt at a delaying tactic had bought him a grand total of an hour and a half instead of the day or two that he'd thought it would.

Sam was surprised to notice that he hadn't aged well which, given the fact that he was now entering his seventies shouldn't have been so unexpected.

His white hair was disappearing and the papery thin skin on his face was sagging, blue veins showing through the taught skin of his forehead. Age spots covered the backs of his hands and his bony joints seemed to be riddled with arthritis.

His voice, however, had managed to cling on to its cutting strength, seeming out of place in his weak body. "Now, we're here to discuss the terms of the relocation of the subjects-"

He was cut off by Leia's curt reply – she, Luke, and SG-1 were the only ones attending, despite Borakahk's vehement claims that he had to be there to protect the Lady Vader. "The terms are simple, Representative Kinsey; the '_subjects_' are going nowhere, except home." Her voice displayed her distaste of the term 'subjects', though she otherwise remained calm, polite, but firm.

"And who, might I ask, are you?"

Raising her chin slightly and deciding that the man would be marginally more impressed with a little pomp and bluster, she introduced herself with every title she could thing of. "I am Princess Leia Organa Solo of Alderaan, former Chief-of-state of the New Republic, official representative of the New Republic to the Imperial Remnant, and Jedi knight in training." She gestured to Luke. "This is Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, the last of the old Jedi, First of the New Jedi, and leader of the New Jedi Order. Together we represent the main power in our Galaxy and the 'subjects' as you so eloquently put it."

All of those in the room who had not previously heard her speak in full political mode before – which was everyone bar Luke – were suitably impressed by her standing and regal manner, though they hid it outwardly.

"Well then, Princess Solo-"

"Representative Organa Solo," Leia corrected sharply.

"Representative Organa Solo, then I welcome you to our corner of this Galaxy. I hope you have been afforded the proper respect?"

Luke sensed the scathing, bitter, hatred behind the outwardly polite comment, but remained quiet, allowing Leia to handle him as he knew she could.

"I'm sure you do," was her only comment in reply. "Still, that does not explain why you wish for my people to be moved away from here where we have the most chance of finding a way home and to a place where we will not have these commodities."

"In case you hadn't noticed, this facility is a front line unit and therefore not suitable for housing such a large and varied group as yourselves."

"We have been here for two weeks without mishap or problem; why is it that now is any different?"

"It took time for us to complete the necessary paperwork and find a secure location."

"And this secure location would be where, precisely?"

The comments were flying backwards and forwards with barely a hesitation between in a show of political prowess the likes of which the SGC had never before seen.

"In a valley in a remote region of a mountain range that we call the Rockies, where civilians and ne'er do wells will have the least possible chance of doing any damage."

"Much the same as this facility offers?"

"Yes, with the added benefits of not having all of the aliens locked away inside, where I'm sure it is not healthy for them to remain in the long term."

_He knows,_ Sam thought, _he knows that 'Tralla and Chewie have problems being here. How in the Force does he know that! _This thought also made her a little nervous and made her wonder what else he had up his sleeve.

It was Luke's turn to cut in, speaking for the first time in his calm, vibrant tone that carried through the room effortlessly, despite the lack of volume. It was a simple trick that never failed to impress subconsciously.

"In that case, would an off-world location not be infinitely better as there would be even less risk of, as you say, contact with civilians and 'ne'er do wells'?"

Kinsey took a long sip of his drink to cover for his being unsettled and to collect his thoughts, oblivious to the fact that Luke, Sam, and to a certain degree Jack could sense his emotions.

"While that may be true, if you were off-world, then it would severely limit our chances of protecting you and ensuring your safety as well as limiting your access to anything that may allow you to one day return to your own Galaxy."

"Do you not think that it is our decision to make!" Leia retorted quickly before swallowing her anger and calming herself.

Kinsey's face hardened, and it was as if he had suddenly realised that this approach was going to get him nowhere. "Not when there is a possibility that two or more of the aliens in your group may be dangerous and the others are unknown. If necessary, we will take you into protective custody to ensure that you cannot harm the inhabitants of this Galaxy."

Jack, who had been struggling to remain calm throughout this all as they were all working on the agreement to let Leia do the talking, finally lost it and slammed a hand down on the table. "Oh for crying out loud, Kinsey, we all know that all you want to do is take them away so you can experiment on them."

"We want nothing of the sort-"

"Shut up."

"I beg your pardon?" Kinsey spluttered, turning to Sam.

"I said shut up." She leaned forwards in her chair, a cold look on her face as she slipped into a different persona; something that she had learned to do with ease as she had searched for the origins of the Touched Virus. This persona was one of someone who wouldn't think twice about killing in cold blood and was afraid of no one. "I know what you're thinking, and I know what you want." She lifted one corner of her mouth in a leer that sent shivers down Hammond's spine. "How does it make you feel to know that I could kill without even moving from where I am at the moment? With one thought I could close off the blood supply to your brain and there wouldn't be a thing you could do about it."

Kinsey shifted uncomfortably, showing that he had obviously seen the tape of the debrief and knew the power that she held. Despite this, and despite the fact that inwardly he was a quivering mess, he kept up his confident mask and leaned back easily in his chair, fixing her with a bold stare.

"How does it make _you_ feel that the minute I even show sighs of feeling unwell, you and your alien pets would be dead and shipped off for dissection? This is exactly why there is not even the remotest possibility of you going anywhere but the facility in the Rockies. You are a danger to this nation, and we will not have you running free to do as you please. I had hoped to do this the easy way, but it seems you are intent on doing the hard way. So be it."

Sam narrowed her eyes and clenched her jaw, preparing to make a move to escape, reaching out with the Force, and covering Kinsey's airways. Within seconds, he had begun to choke and struggle, the surprise of her friends evident.

She was forced to release her Force grip though, when the sound of two rifles being cocked broke through the tense air.

"Sam…this isn't the best time for this…" Jack murmured in her ear and she relented as she grudgingly agreed with him, despite the knowledge that she could easily have stopped the bullets.

Gasping for air, Kinsey sat slumped in his seat. "Arrest them and lock them away," he wheezed, sending for more SF's who were loyal to him.

That at least answered the question of both how he'd been getting the information and why he'd been quite so cocky. "SG-1 too."

"What? Why?" Hammond and Jack both demanded at the same time.


	24. Plans

**Chapter 24 – Plans**

Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet, puzzled over the transmission that had been picked up by the advance probe sent to the prospective new planet. Even his thousands of years of experience could not help him puzzle out just why a message matching the wide-band frequencies that his people used, sent to a completely different galaxy to the one he was currently residing in, had a data tag with the runes for both his title and name on it.

The scans confirmed that there was nothing detectably sinister about it. Tilting his head to one side, he placed the pearly-white data receptacle on the control board and engaged it. Waiting a few minutes for the computer to compute the data and align any inconsistencies, his only reaction when the data presented itself was to blink. To another Asgard, the tell-tale signs of surprise such as the sudden darkening of skin tone and tilting of his head to the right and a quiver of brow-ridges would have been obvious, despite his automatic curtailing of them.

Projected above the board, facing away at an angle of approximately thirty degrees was a three-quarter scale Colonel Jack O'Neill.

"…sure this is working?...Well, I don't know; you're the techno-whiz…you're sure?" Thor regarded the exchange with an unseen, unheard person off-screen with something akin to amusement. There was no denying that this was Jack O'Neill…or at the very least, his clone.

Apparently receiving an affirmative, O'Neill straightened, still facing away, and Thor deftly commanded a rotation of the image until he could regard the fuzzy, static recording easily, analysing expression and body language as he best could.

"Thor! I'm looking for Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet? Buddy, I know you're there, so you can quit playing hard-to-get!" O'Neill's eyes seemed to change focus, as if he were looking at someone behind him. "Oh, for crying out loud! I'm hurrying…Look, Thor, we could really do with your help right now and, well, I've gotta go; we're late as it is, but I'm not kidding when I say that we need help on the inter-galactic, deadly important for millions scale…You know where to find us. Please!" The image froze in its beginning posture, ready to replay at a command.

Thor blinked again.

* * *

Luke had nearly flinched at the three words that echoed the Emperor's in both meaning and tone. _So be it._ Despite an entirely different accent, culture, and surrounding, they shared the same angry, hateful certainly that those that would not join them would die.

He just hoped that, as he had escaped the Emperor, he would escape Kinsey, though without any losses, as he had lost his father.

Mere seconds later, his stomach had clenched involuntarily as Sam had reached out with the Force, choking the repellent man where he stood. _Sam, no, don't give in to your anger, fight it!_ He thought, unable to get a read on her. He wasn't worried about the weapons aimed at them, and he was aided in swallowing his fear for Sam when Jack muttered something in her ear and she relented, releasing the red-faced, gasping man.

At Kinsey's order, they were all lead away, including SG-1, with the exception of Daniel, who remained behind to talk to Hammond, despite Kinsey's protests.

"Because I can. Because you've been a thorn in my side for far too long already and because I really don't like you!" he had explained to the outraged people with smug satisfaction.

Flashing Leia a far too often used and well practiced reassuring look, he glanced at the others as they were lead down the corridor by the guards that he assumed were on Kinsey's payroll judging by the looks that every other member of the SGC's staff were shooting them. Sam was unreadable; something that was more or less habitual to her, but he could sense the anger of Daniel and Teal'c and see it in their thunderous faces, and he made a mental note to never make the larger of the two even slightly irritable. Jack, on the other had, was making a visible attempt to control his anger, though it simmered just below the surface, ready to erupt at the slightest provocation.

When they reached their destination, he braced himself for the downcast looks of his friends and family, shaking his head minutely at those who couldn't read it through the Force. He wrapped his arms around Mara, even as Leia fell into Han's embrace, drawing strength from their bond. He couldn't imagine how much worse it was for them to be separated from their children; he had most of his family here.

"I won't let him take any of you away and stash you in a facility." Sam's words, spoken suddenly surprised him almost as much as the strength of determination in her tone. She glanced at Jack, who nodded slightly. "We'll leave it until the last minute that it's safe to do so, but we'll get out of here and 'gate to any one of a number of other safe planets."

"Why?" Sam glanced at Mara with a look that screamed 'huh!'

"Why what?"

"Why wait until the last minute? Surely, it would be better to do it sooner rather than later." The second part of Mara's response was a statement, not a question.

Jack gave a lopsided half-smile that reminded him vaguely of Han. "Well, that depends on whether or not you hope to get help from others." He pointed into the ceiling and Luke felt the majority of the people in the room frown in confusion.

"NORAD?" Daniel queried sceptically.

"No, Daniel, the Asgard." Whoever the Asgard were, it was apparently a good thing, because Daniel's eyes lit up and understanding coursed through his body. "So you managed to find a 'gate address for them?"

Jack shrugged and glanced at Luke. "Well, we found co-ordinates to send a message to." Luke couldn't blame him for being sceptical…he'd been much the same when he'd first been introduced to the Force. "Sam and I sent a message using records of the cool holo-thing and stuff. Built a holo-projector…kind of."

"Oh, so what did he say?"

"Uh…well that's the problem."

Daniel narrowed his eyes at Jack, a long-suffering annoyance evident. "Jack…"

Sam cut in, her voice laced with amusement, "It's not exactly a problem, we just didn't get a reply from him. All that means, though, is that he might have been busy."

"Well, of course…maybe he was just taking a leak?"

"Han…" Luke warned, although he understood just why Han was so put out by it. He ignored Mara as she silently pointed out to him that he was using the exact same tone as Daniel had used mere moments before. "We didn't know if it would work; all we had was what the Force told me when I meditated-"

"Oh great! You just hide behind your hokey religion, kid, because I'm getting out of here right now." He moved for the door, roughly shrugging off Leia's hand and glaring at her. "No, Leia, I'm not going to just let them take us away to rot on some backwater planet while our kids grow up without their parents."

Chewie roared his agreement and Luke tried to placate them both, laying a Force blanket over their anger and trying to extinguish it.

Instead, Han turned angrily on him. "Would you stop that!"

"Han, he's just trying to stop you from doing anything stupid."

"Oh really, princess? I don't see you doing anything clever…" Luke raised his eyebrows in surprise. Han hadn't called Leia 'Princess' in years, at least not in the company of others. He sensed from Leia, however, that he reverted to the pet name when he was upset, or angry. It showed just how much this was affecting him.

"Han, please…"Leia implored, her eyes shining with tears.

His shoulders slumped as the fight went out of him, and it was only now that Luke realised that everyone else had been standing back until now.

"You honestly think that I would let them take us?" Sam questioned, stepping forwards and raising an eyebrow. "Everyone in this room knows just how I feel about being imprisoned, restricted, or enslaved…I nearly lost it out there. I may not have acted out of anger, but I let my anger colour my actions and reacted instead of waiting for the appropriate time. We could have got out of here then…but at what cost?" She paused in her diatribe, having apparently realised that only as she said it out aloud. She was reluctant to continue, obviously sensing the surveillance equipment dotted around the room.

"What about the-"

"Ah." Jack cut him off and held up a hand, slipping the other into his pocket. "The bugs?" he finished for Corran, grinning slightly and revealing a small mass of wires and circuitry. "Sorted."

"So what's the plan?"

Jack shrugged. "One or two people head for the infirmary PDQ, grab enough sedative to knock out a herd of rhino's, come back for everyone else, head for the gate via the armoury and get the hell outta dodge."

"…That's it? That's your plan?" Mara's scathing reply displayed her incredulity at the seeming idiocy of the plan. "That sucks more than a mynock in a Star Destroyer."

"Hey!" Jack scowled at her, not liking her dismissal, and Luke raised an eyebrow in amusement. Jack leaned slightly towards Sam without looking away from Mara. "What's a mynock?" he muttered audibly out of the corner of his mouth.

Sam simply rolled her eyes and ignored him. "Mara, I know it sounds like a bad plan, but we are not, under any circumstances going to give the people of this facility anything bigger than a headache."

"Except Felger, can I deck Felger?"

As usual, Jack was masking his discomfort and worry with bad jokes and sarcasm, and Sam was not going to pay it any attention any more "Shut up. This might sound crazy to you but-"

"So was flying a single X-wing down the trench of the first Death Star, taking off the auto lock, and firing a missile down a two-metre exhaust pipe," Corran commented with a wry smile.

Luke levelled his gaze at Corran for a moment. _You know, they've got a point, Mara._

_Shut up, Farm Boy._ "Alright, so who goes? And I still think this is crazy."

"This coming from-"

Luke's reply was cut off by Leia, who was getting fed up of what she perceived as time wasting. This wasn't getting her any closer to her children. "Enough. Can we please just get this over with!"

The previously bickering friends had the grace to look sheepish for a moment before they were immediately serious.

"Sam and Corran." Jack informed them, automatically falling into his role as nominal leader and dropping his distraction techniques.

"O'Neill, would not perhaps you or I be better equipped for this task? We would not stand out as much as a stranger."

"It's not a matter of who stands out; Corran can project the image of an empty room to people, but he needs someone to direct him, and Sam knows best what sedatives to get." He clapped a hand on Teal'c's shoulder. "Sorry, buddy, but that's the way it is."

"Indeed."

"So it's just a case of-" A bright white light surrounded him and blanked out his vision…"getting the…I coulda sworn I was talking to a room full of people a minute ago."

"O'Neill."

Jack spun on his heels. "Thor, buddy, you have no idea how glad I am to see you!" He resisted the urge to stick his finger in his ear and wiggle it.

Thor tilted his head to one side, "You require my assistance?"

"Yeah, actually. Listen, I'm gonna be missed if I'm not back there like, right now, so do you mind beaming us down there?"

"Are you in trouble, O'Neill? My initial scan indicated that you were being held prisoner with a number of other people."

"Well….kinda. I'll explain down there….please!"

Before the delicate alien had finished his nod, Jack's vision suffered another white-out before coalescing into the middle of the room he'd just vacated. Thor stood just to his side, blinking at the strangers. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw Corran brush at his ear.

"I was not aware the people of Earth had made contact with any unknown alien species," he commented calmly. "Greetings. I am Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet."

Before anyone else could return the greeting, Sam's voice sounded from behind them, a trace of amusement evident, mixed with pleasure at seeing another old friend again.

"Hey, Thor; long time, no see."

Thor turned with a speed that Jack wouldn't have expected him capable of. At least, not without his over-sized head snapping off of his scrawny neck.

"Major Carter!"

"Jedi Carter," she corrected reflexively.

"I thought that you had expired."

"No, no…I just got taken to a galaxy far, far away and made into a slave. How've you been?"

"I am well, thank you. We are winning the war against the Replicators, but our home galaxy has been left ravaged. It was you who devised a way to contact us?"

Sam shrugged a wicked glint in her eyes. "Jack and I."

Thor blinked.

And blinked again.

"O'Neill helped you to create a holographic communicator capable of interfacing with Asguard technology?"

"Oh, for crying out loud! I thought I was 'the hope of the Asgard'!" Jack's frustration was evident for everyone to see as he threw his arms up in disgust.

"We saw the potential in you, but we did not think that you had the patience or the knowledge."

"Gee, thanks."

"You are most welco-"

"Sarcasm!"

"I see." A long pause followed, indicating that he didn't see, but that he accepted it as a part of human nature. "For what reason did you seek out my assistance?"

Jack quickly related the short version of why they were all there, pausing only when Daniel burst in, angry and momentarily shocked to see the small grey figure. Scowling at him, Jack finished his tale and turned his gaze to the small alien, scrutinising him for the slightest indication of what he thought. He was thoroughly unimpressed when Thor's only response was to blink, inform them that he had to check something aboard his ship and would return in a few moments.

"Sam…do the Asgard have cloning technology?"

Sam frowned. "Yeah; their entire existence is based on it. Why?"

Luke nodded thoughtfully. "In the past, when I've come into contact with clones, I've always sensed this strange kind of…buzzing through the Force. I felt something similar just now."

Sam nodded in understanding. "You mean like you've got water in your ear?" she questioned.

"I suppose," Luke replied, though he wasn't quite satisfied with the analogy.

Jack belatedly realised the reason for his urge to stick his finger in his ear had disappeared with Thor and wondered what could cause that kind of reaction.

"The Asgard clone their bodies and transfer their consciousness," Sam explained before he had the chance to ask.

"That might be why it's not a full blown 'buzz'," Corran proffered. "With the Emperor and Thrawn's clones, they had to use Ysalimiri to counter-act whatever it was that made the cloned minds go crazy."

Daniel looked vaguely disgusted. "You mean you actually cloned a human mind!"

"Not us, the Emperor."

"Still, that's…"

"DanielJackson, why do you find the idea of cloning a human mind so much more abhorrent than the cloning of a body for another mind?"

Daniel looked at Teal'c askance, contemplating the question. "It's just…" he shrugged, unable to find the words to describe it. "I dunno."

"Wow. Even Daniel's lost for words."

Daniel shot Jack a venomous glare, wondering if anyone would notice his disappearance.

* * *

Janet Frasier-Jackson was seething with anger and - despite her oath as a doctor - was finding it hard not to shift the movement of her fingers ever so slightly and finish what Sam had begun earlier. Reigning in the urge, she finished checking him over and stepped back, her mouth a hard thin line and her brows knotted tensely.

"I can see nothing wrong, General; there are no signs of any kind of physical damage and the only indication that Representative Kinsey was not faking injury is the discolouration of his face."

She could see her own anger reflected in the pulsing of a large vein in Hammond's head, although a glimmer of mild amusement fluttered for a split second at the sight of Kinsey spluttering and protesting that he was not in any way faking it, and that was why both he and the CRDO had decided that it would be best for the aliens to be secreted away in a secure location.

Janet clenched her fists and slowly loosened her jaw from its determined grinding. "With all due respect, Representative, I don't think you understand the implications of what you're about to do." The way she said it made it clear that all the respect she felt he was due was non existent. "From what I've been told, I gather that these people are from an extremely powerful race with technology far superior to our own-"

"Oh, I understand that entirely, Doctor; why do you think I'm so eager to…work with them?"

"And that technology is currently in the grasps of a Goa'uld who has apparently outwitted their best tacticians and is in a position to take over. If the Goa'uld manages that, then what little hope Earth had for a future is gone, _especially without the skills of SG-1!"_

Even Hammond was a little shocked at the outburst from the pint-sized woman, and he had seen her fighting to protect a patient that others would gladly have killed.

Kinsey pulled his tie closed, making sure to keep it a little loose as he glared at the woman before him. "Doctor _Jackson_, I don't think that you are in any position to make these claims in light of the fact that your husband and three of your friends - one of whom had been presumed dead until recently - are about to be carted off for their part in the endangering of this planet." He reached for his Jacket and began to shrug it on. "Jackson has already informed me of the danger I will be putting this planet in, and that 'Earth's best chance for survival is the knowledge and co-operation of Jack O'Neill and these _aliens'._" He brushed some imaginary lint off of his shoulder and sneered down at Janet. "And the sad thing is I think that he actually _believes them_. General, Doctor, good-bye." He turned on his heel and left, his goons following behind him without paying Hammond the least respect.

"Doctor…Janet, believe me, I want to wipe that look off of his face just as much as you do, but the people of this base and this planet need us here, where we can minimise the damage." He sighed heavily and for a moment, Janet saw a tired old man long past retirement age and dying to just go to sleep and leave it all behind.

She moved to the briefing room chair beside him and gave his hand a little squeeze, forcing the part of her that was always on call to ignore the frailty and thinness that had marched on with the disappearance of SG-1 again. She knew she had been less than a hundred percent with the loss of Daniel, but she had naively thought that everything would be okay now that he was back, and with Sam in tow, no less. Hammond had known that it would not be the case and she didn't doubt that his blood pressure had sky-rocketed.

Hammond looked up and gave her a brief smile. "This is their fight now; we've just got to trust them."

She returned the smile. "That's what I was afraid of," she commented, half joking.

* * *

Sam sighed and scanned the room, noting that its listless occupants looked as bad as she felt. Since being escorted back here, Daniel had been uncommonly quiet, and Sam could only guess that it had something to do with the fact that wherever he was being taken, the chances of Janet or Cassie visiting would be slim to none.

Sensing two familiar presences approaching - one human, one alien - she looked towards the door, waiting a few long minutes until the guards finally gave in and allowed her father to enter.

Seeing her brief wave, he made his way over to her, eyes narrowing microscopically as he noticed just how close she was sitting to Jack. Ignoring it studiously, he sat himself down beside her fluidly and the voice at the back if her mind pointed out to her how little he had changed, and how unusual it was for a man of his age to be able to move like that. She ignored it and focussed on what he was saying.

"I spoke to the Tok'ra High Council and told them about the situation. I'm sorry, Sammy, but they refused to help in any way. According to Garshaw, 'the risks involved are too high. The Tok'ra alliance with Earth does not warrant their action on your behalf'." He was speaking quietly so as not to disturb the other people in the room.

Sam shrugged. "Can't say I'm surprised," she replied just as quietly.

Jack remained quiet, sensing that Jacob was just itching to yell at him for something, even if it was just for his won piece of mind.

"I have, however, been ordered by the council to investigate this Goa'uld of yours and 'take appropriate action', whatever that means." His head dipped, and he relinquished control to Selmak.

"I agree with Jacob on this, Samantha. The risk that this poses is too high to be ignored."

Jack gave the Tok'ra and host a sharp look. "So this means…?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Jacob and I will accompany you when you return to this other galaxy."

Jack sighed and muttered something under his breath, making the corners of Sam's mouth turn up for a second.

A bright light flashed once again and they jumped to their feet as Thor re-materialised in front of them again.

"You don't write, you don't call…" Jack joked, hiding his apprehension at the news that Thor would hopefully be bringing.

At the back of her mind, Sam registered the slight shock and awe displayed by the others in the room who weren't used to the Asgard technology yet.

"I was not gone for long, O'Neill; there was no need to contact you."

"He was joking, Thor; ignore him," Sam cut in, waving a hand vaguely at Jack and shooting him a half-smirk. "Will you be able to help us?"

"That will not be possible, Major Carter."

Sam was shocked to the point that she didn't even register being called 'Major' again. "You mean you can't help us?"

"No."


	25. Escape

**Chapter 25 – Escape**

"No? _No!"_ Sam ignored the crest-fallen whimper that escaped Leia's lips at Thor's reply and blocked out the waves of grief coming off of the others, and pity from her team mates. "Why the Sith not?"

"Come on, Thor, how many times have we saved your little grey hineys?"

"What is a 'hiney'?"

"Damnit, Thor, now is not the-" A flash obscured her vision and Sam's exclamation degenerated into a growl as she realised that Thor had beamed himself back to his ship. She then realised that he had beamed her and Jack up at the same time. "What's going on, Thor?"

Loping over to a console in the curious bouncy gait that was natural to his people, Thor dodged the question. "I would have transported all of SG-1 up here, but I am afraid that they needed to remain with the others to placate them."

"Damn right they need placating; you just told them that, despite the fact that you could zip us over there in a few seconds, you won't, for no apparent reason!" The frustration and anger in Jack's voice was thinly veiled and Sam could see him struggling to control it.

Biting back her own bitter feelings and suppressing the image of the stricken faces of the people she was responsible for, she took a step towards Jack and laid a hand on his shoulder, lending him strength.

Regarding Thor steadily, she reached out with the Force and tried to get a read on him, pushing past the slightly odd buzzing sensation and the usual difficulty associated with reading an unfamiliar alien. It didn't work, though, and she gave up after a few minutes, surprised when Thor broke the silence himself.

"Many thousands of years ago, my people were wandering through the universe, looking for a galaxy that would be able to support our civilisation. It was during this time that we first encountered and befriended other races and formed the alliance of the four Great Races. During our travels we stopped at a galaxy and encountered a race of beings whose name we do not know. This race was lead by very powerful beings, who - legend tells - were able to control life itself." A sad look passed over the Asgard's usually impassive face and the two humans shared a look. _Jedi_.

"There are no records of this time, but we know that we settled and were happy there for some time, but our ancestors carried out a great travesty of which no Asgard has ever spoken since, and the beings banished us from their galaxy. Every Asgard knows of this place, and every Asgard has sworn to never set foot there unless-" Thor cut himself off as if he had suddenly realised he'd been about to let something slip that he should not have.

Jack was silent for only a few seconds. "Not even when the whole universe and thousands of sentient beings are in danger?"

"No."

"Well why the hell not?"

"Because we are so ashamed of what we did."

Jack narrowed his eyes and evidently deemed it best to drop the subject, possibly because of the obvious fact that Thor had beamed himself out of the room.

"'All we do is give, and all they do is take.'" Jack gave her a grim smile as he quoted some unknown source and reached out a hand to her.

Sam smiled, "I think he just hung up on us."

"No Kidding. C'Mere."

Sam resisted at first, still not entirely used to intimacy of this sort. She could deal with the more obvious stuff like the kissing because in her own mind that wasn't necessarily a sign of attachment or affection; it could have just been a job, or a way of dodging detection. Though she'd never done anything more than kiss someone herself, her time on Nar Shadaa and her search for the Stargate meant that she'd known enough dancing girls and 'consorts' to have close-up knowledge of it.

To hold him close, and hug him now was something else entirely. This showed that there actually was a connection between them and that she really did care and that, more than anything, scared her.

At the sudden blank mask that shuttered Jack's face when she resisted, however, she relented. "Sorry. I just…it's hard, y'know?"

Jack wrapped an arm around her and held her against his chest, using the Force to sense what she was feeling. Sensing this, Sam let him connect to her mind instead of pushing him out as she slipped her own arms around his waist, looking out of the large veiwport and down at the Earth rotating slowly below. Or above, depending on your perspective.

When she continued, her voice was barely audible. "I haven't let myself get close to anyone in so long that-"

"I know, trust me, I know. I didn't let Sara get close to me after Charlie died, and it took Daniel's pig-headedness to finally get me to break through that."

Sam smiled, hearing as well as sensing the affection behind the comment. "It's a good job you're just as pig-headed then, isn't it?"

"Hmmph."

Sam's smile slipped as she thought about the people currently locked in VIP quarters on the twenty-fifth level of the SGC. While she was safely ensconced in Jack's arms, Corran was down there, several zillion light-years away from his wife and son.

Feeling the edges of frustration and anger threaten to slip out again, she forced herself to focus on the simple beauty of her home planet as it continued business without her.

After so many years of interstellar travel, she took for granted the ability to stand at the edges and observe like this. _Stand at the edges…_

The phrase reverberated around in her mind for a few seconds before Jack jumped. "That's it!"

His sudden movement had made Sam straighten suddenly and they had bumped heads. "What's it?" she asked as she rubbed at her forehead, irritation on her face.

"Thor! THOR GET YOUR ASS BACK IN HERE!"

Before he had finished his sentence, light had flashed and Thor had reappeared, looking slightly irritated if the darker grey of his face was anything to go by. "You wish to be returned to Stargate Command?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Apparently Jack's had an epiphany."

"Thor, you say you won't go _into_ the galaxy, but what about right at the very edge of the galaxy? Could you drop us off there?"

Thor tilted his head to one side a fraction as if considering the option. "I could but it would be suicidal."

"Why?"

"Humans cannot survive in the vacuum of space."

Jack's face took on a 'Doh!' expression as he patiently cleared the matter up for him. "You're thinking too literally, Thor, I mean drop us in a ship."

"That would be possible."

Sam raised an eyebrow, slightly reluctant to break into Jack's enthusiasm. "So, what, we're just gonna steal the _Prometheus_?"

"No, that would be stupid. The _Prometheus_ went kablammo a few years ago and anyway, we'd need a cloaked ship."

"A Tel'Tak?"

"Exactly."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why a cloaked ship?"

"Well, this Goa'uld guy - if he's at all Goa'uld-like - is going to think that a) his minion took us all out and b) even if he didn't, there's only one 'Gate into the galaxy."

Thor had followed the rapid-fire exchange as if it were a tennis match, his beady black eyes slipping back and forth between the two.

"I still don't get why no-one believes me when I tell them you're a genius!" Sam quipped, grinning at him.

Jack smirked. "They're distracted by my good looks and witty sense of humour."

Sam's reply was drowned out as Thor once again beamed them away without warning.

"-three-year old." Was all that the surprised room below heard. "Thor, could you give us a little warning before you do that?"

"I apologise, Major Carter-"

"Jedi Carter."

Thor gave another head quirk but nodded slowly as if trying to compute why it had changed.

"So, you want the good news or the bad news first?"

"Good news." Corran and Daniel both exclaimed at the same time, looking at each other in surprise.

"Right. Good news is we're going home. Bad news is it was Jack's idea, and he now thinks the sun shines out of his-"

"Hey! What happened to 'genius'?"

Sam gave him an innocent look as the wave of relief and joy washed over her, tinged slightly with doubt.

"How?" Mara asked practically.

"Well, Thor says the Asgard got kicked out of your galaxy thousands of years ago and won't go back, but he _will_ drop us off at the edge of the galaxy," Jack supplied for them as Sam turned to Jacob.

"Dad, we're going to need a Tel'tak for this to work."

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't know how close Thor will drop us, but it could take weeks or even months to get a decent distance into the galaxy."

Sam sighed and gestured to the people sitting in the room. Most were chatting with each other as well as keeping an eye on what was being said. "Dad, look at these people. They all have homes and families, and it's my fault that they're stuck here; I owe it to them to get them back home, and a few weeks makes no difference if the alternative is a prison camp here."

Jacob grimaced but nodded. "Okay, I'll see what I can scare up."

Sam flashed him a smile as he left before she turned back to Thor with a slightly wicked grin. Seeing this as her signal, he activated the small pearlescent device in his hand and seconds later, they rematerialised on Thor's ship. She couldn't help but smile at the awed reactions of the gathered people and even chuckled at Corran's exclamation of 'I have _got_ to get one of those!'

Borakahk had automatically moved in front of Leia, Chewie in front of Han and Sam was slightly annoyed to find Dentralla now blocking her view.

Pushing pointedly passed her and giving her a vaguely irritated look that the tall Wookie was more than used to, she beckoned for Thor to join her in the next room.

Ignoring the puzzled looks of everyone else and motioning for those who tried to follow her to stop where they were, she waited until the door had slid smoothly shut before she spoke.

"I'm going to need you to do a few favours for me please, regardless of what Jack or the others say, can you do that?"

Thor tilted his head to one side as he considered the request, "I will do so only if I feel that it will not betray the trust that has been placed on me."

"Thank you. Can I…?" She gestured a console and he nodded his consent as she moved to in and quickly began setting in a series of commands, occasionally flicking at a console farther away with the Force.

Thor watched in interest, millennia of experience and knowledge straining to find scientific reasoning for her capabilities. She paused only to ask him which of the ship's holds she could use to store things and to remind him that they would need to pick up a Tel'Tak from a planet agreed by the Tok'ra.

Picking up a signal stone, she gave the small, puzzled alien a brief smile. "I have one more thing that I need to do: this is the bit that some of the others aren't going to like, but they have no choice in the matter…they don't know what they would be risking."

Thor nodded silently and took her place at the console.

* * *

Mark Carter looked up at the brief flicker of light from the living room, frowning at the sound of something being dropped, followed by a shocked gasp of "Auntie Sam!"

His frown deepened as he walked towards the noise and his daughter. "Jen, you okay?" Why she would call for her aunt Sam was a mystery…Sam was dead, MIA presumed dead for over six years now.

He stopped in the doorway, unable to move at the sight of his sister smiling tightly at him.

"Hi, Mark. Long time, no see," she stood tensely, as if ready to jump into action, and he couldn't help but notice that she looked so different. Her hair was the same, face the same, no disfiguring abnormality and yet…she didn't look the same. Older,

wiser…he couldn't figure it out.

The front door slammed and his wife called out to him as she wandered through to the living room, laden with bags.

Mark couldn't help but notice Sam flinch at the sound of the door, reflexively reaching for the weapon he now realised was holstered on her leg. He'd never known Sam to wear a gun in public, and if she had, it had never been that open. The sight of it made his skin crawl.

"_Sam_!"

The smile was once again flashed, this time at Shauna and Tom behind her. "Surprised to see me?"

"How did you get in here?" The words tripped off of his tongue before he realised it, and he was surprised to see her smile broaden as she shrugged.

"Don't suppose you'd believe that aliens beamed me in here?"

"You're alive!" Jen seemed to have come out of her shock and had thrown herself at her aunt, wrapping her arms around the surprised woman.

"Hey, kiddo, I missed you, too." The comment reminded Mark of their father, and he felt a wave of bitterness that he had not been to visit in so many years.

Seconds later, the whole family was joining her in a group hug that lasted several long minutes.

Only once they had finally broken away did Sam begin what was, in a round about way, an explanation of sorts.

"Listen, I know this is a shock, and I'm sorry, but there's a lot at stake here. I can only tell you that I was taken to somewhere no-one on earth could find me, but that I'm amongst friends now." She shifted her gaze to Mark again, a look of urgency on her face. "I know this is asking a lot of you, but I don't know of anyone else that I trust anymore…" She opened her mouth to continue, but abruptly shut it again as a bright white light flashed in the room.

Mark blinked and was surprised by the appearance of a tall, silver haired man who looked ready to throttle Sam.

"Sam, what the hell do you think you're…" The man paused and turned to look at the people who were staring slack-jawed at him. "…Hi… Sorry to drop in on you like this...wait, don't I know you?"

Sam sighed and rolled her eyes. "Jack, this is my brother, his wife, and his two kids."

"Oh, that's right we met at…" The man floundered and frowned a little. "…your funeral…do you have any idea how weird that sounds!"

"Yes." Sam narrowed her eyes at him again. "What did you say to Thor to make him beam you down here?"

Jacks eyes flickered almost imperceptibly towards the family and Sam nodded for him to continue. "It's okay, it's too late now anyways."

"Well, it wasn't so much what I _said_ as what I _did_."

Sam groaned. "Daniel's right; you are an ass."

"Gee thanks."

"Uh, Sam…?" Mark's strangled words broke off any retorts forthcoming. "You weren't kidding when you said you were beamed down by aliens, were you?"

"Well….no. Listen, I need to ask you a huge favour. I have to go away again…certain factions of our government have forced me into this, and they're not going to be happy when they realise we're gone, but some of my friends have gotten caught up in this, and I can't let them come with me. They're not going to be happy about this, but they don't know what's in store for them, and it would mean getting completely cut off from their families for good. I also need for someone that I can trust to stay here and try and straighten out the situation here for the sakes of the rest of the galaxy and several more besides."

Mark could only gape at her as she took another breath before powering on. "I need you to keep these people here and keep them secret…the higher-ups aren't going to know that they're still on Earth, and this is going to be vital if we're ever to come back.

"Can you do this for me?"

Mark swallowed and glanced at his wife before finally nodding dumbly her. "Yeah," he croaked before clearing his throat. "Yeah, Sam, just…is it really that important?"

"You have no idea." She dug into a pocket and pulled out a small computer disc and handed it to him. "All the information is on here, encrypted and in a language that only two of the people staying will know."

"You're sure about this?" The question came from Jack, who had been regarding Sam with intense concentration for the last several minutes, trying to read what she was thinking and understand her reasoning.

"Yep. They can call on Thor if they need to."

"Daniel and T won't like this…"

She gave him a strained grin. "That's why they're not going to have a choice in the matter." She turned back to Mark again and held out a piece of paper to him. "Give this to Daniel when you see him and tell them I'm sorry." She gave him an apologetic smile. "I wish I could stay but…" She reached for the giant opal-white rock.

"Wait, Sam!" She turned questioning eyes to him. "Is this - is this what Dad's been up to the last ten years?"

She smiled. "Yeah. You might not see him for a while either…" She let the words hang in the air for a moment, knowing that Mark read the implications of the statement.

Mark nodded grimly and turned to Jack. "You keep them safe for me; both of them."

For once, Jack had no sarcastic retort or scathing reply, he simply nodded. "They're family," was all he said, a steely look in his battle-hardened eyes.

In a flash they were gone, replaced by three bewildered forms that Mark also recognised.

"I do not believe we are aboard Thor's ship any longer, DanielJackson."

"No, Teal'c…this appears to be Sam's brother's house…"

The man that Daniel recognised as Mark stepped forwards with a piece of paper. "Uh, Daniel?" At the other man's affirmative nod, he pressed the paper into his hands. "Sam asked me to give you this and tell you that she's sorry."

Janet sighed and looked upwards. "What have you done now, Sam?"

* * *

As soon as they arrived back on the ship, Sam let out a breath she hadn't realised that she'd been holding. Turning to Thor and ignoring the indecipherable look that Jack was giving her, she gave the alien a wan smile. "That's it this end." She informed him, "Now it's just off to pick up the Tel'Tak and then on to…the other galaxy."

"You know, we really should think of a name for it." Jack cast a shrug at them. "As catchy as 'the other galaxy' is, it's a bit of a mouthful."

Sam shook her head and felt the glimmerings of a smile pull at her lips, which had no doubt been Jack's intention. Leaving him to chat to Thor, she returned to the room where the others were, their excited apprehension coming off of them in waves, mixed with confusion over where Daniel, Janet, and Teal'c and disappeared to.

She found herself waylaid at the door, however, by an irate furry mountain who proceeded to spend a full five minutes giving her an earful about her habit of wandering off without her.

San bore the lecture stoically. "Finished?" she asked once Dentralla's grumbles finally died away to give a tense silence. The Wookie gave a negative bark and rumbled a terse question, waving her arm into the room for emphasis. Sam sighed. She'd known the question was coming, but she still felt a little guilty for the reply. "They're staying on earth."

"Sam, you know that the government's going to hunt them for their part in this." her father warned, frowning at her.

Corran cut in, his own experience and affirmation through the Force giving him a head start. "Not if they don't know that they're on Earth."

Sam nodded. "I cloaked the various transmissions and made it look like we were only beaming up supplies and weapons."

Jacob frowned. "I didn't know the Asgard could do that."

Reading him through the Force, Sam could tell that he was a little perturbed by the idea that the Asgard could do these things without being detected. "The Asgard can't."

"Then ho- oh."

Sam let lose a wry half-grin. "Let's just say that I picked up a few tricks here and there." She sobered again as Dentralla queried where they were that they couldn't be found. "They're in San Diego with Mark."

"Mark?" Jacob asked, jaw dropping. "Sammy, he thinks you're…"

"Dead. Not any more." She shrugged, secure in the knowledge that she had done what she thought was best. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, but they deserved the chance. "Dad, someone needed to stay behind and do something about this rogue CRDO before Earth manages to get itself blown up." She paused a moment before telling them the real reason for leaving Daniel, Janet, and Teal'c behind. "And anyway, they have their own families to worry about…Daniel and Janet have Cass, and Teal'c has Ishta. I can't ask them to risk being stranded in an alien galaxy for the rest of their lives, willing or not."

Jacob gave an exasperated sigh. "And what, you think that leaving them to spend the rest of their lives hiding and running from the government is better?" She could see his anger and feel it rolling off of him in waves.

Her voice remained as calm and quiet as it had been before, but her entire body took on the dangerous, icy demeanour that signalled her controlled anger. "Do not try to second guess decisions that you only know half of the background on."

Everyone in the room, with the exception of Jacob, had the sense to remain quiet as mice lest they come under Sam's scrutiny. "Maybe they will have problems, and maybe they will suffer, but I'm willing to take the risk for the rest of the planet and I know they would too."

"It wasn't your decision to make-" Jacob was yelling now, despite Selmak's attempts to calm him.

"Maybe not, but it wasn't theirs either! You don't know what we're going to face when we get home, but I do! I've seen the worst and it's more than you can possibly comprehend." Giving an enraged and vehement curse in Huttese, she ripped off the gloves that she habitually wore and pushed up her sleeves to show the scars she had amassed. "You see this? This doesn't even scratch the surface of it!" Only now, as she started to delve deeper, into things that she had only ever hinted at in the presence of another being did she start to lose control of her voice. Stuffing the gloves into a pocket she met the eyes of her father, her gaze boring into his as she regained control of her voice. "If I had it my way, even you and Jack would stay here.

"Now, if you would be so kind, Thor needs to know the location of the planet where we'll find the Tel'tak."

Jacob nodded once, his face unreadable, but his Force presence telling her that he was still unconvinced.

As soon as she heard the door behind her slide closed again, she let out a deep breath, banishing the last of her anger with it. Seeing Corran's querying eyes, she gave him a weak and wavery smile. "Never have been any good at banishing my anger," she commented weakly.

Corran shrugged, his expression carefully neutral. "No, but I don't think I know anyone who can control it like you do."

Sam nodded, unsure whether she was being admonished or praised.

A slight tremor ran through the ship and the view outside flickered before coalescing into a view of a radically different planet. This one was a barren rocky world with little vegetation and even less water, except what was trapped in the frozen polar regions.

Within a few minutes, they had secured the Tel'tak in a cargo bay and were whizzing to the edge of their destination galaxy.

* * *

Daniel took the proffered note almost hesitantly, his eyebrows knotted in confusion.

He recognised the hastily written scrawl as Sam's, though it had changed a little after so many years of using the Basic alphabet.

_Daniel, Janet, and Teal'c,_

_By now you're probably wondering what in the name of the Force is going on. Well, you're staying put. I know that you were expecting to come with us, and I'm sorry that there wasn't enough time for me to be able to do this face-to-face. But you would have argued, and Thor's ship sitting in orbit for that long after we'd disappeared from the SGC would have raised far too much interest. _

_I couldn't let you all come with us when you have so much to live for on Earth, and when Earth has so much to live for…_

_I know that I'm asking a lot of Mark and his family in landing this on them unannounced, but I also know that you're more than capable of dealing with this. Kinsey and the CRDO have to be stopped before they get this planet in even more trouble._

_Thor will be hanging around to help you, as you well know that the Asgard High Council isn't impressed with the attitude that the CRDO has adopted… whatever they may say this is the real reason that they haven't visited much. Contained in the disc that Mark has is all the information that you might need and was available to me, including how to contact the Asgard. I'm sure Teal'c will want to visit Ishta at some point, too._

_Tell Mark and family whatever you feel they need to know and try to explain to them about Dad. _

_Hopefully we'll see each other again…_

_May the Force be with you._

She had, out of habit perhaps, signed her name in Basic.

Though the letter was short and rushed, it told them everything that they needed to know. Sam was trying to protect both them and Earth, and the three of them silently agreed that they would do everything that they could to carry out the colossal task entrusted to them.


	26. Return

**Chapter 26 – Return**

As she stepped through the doorway from the Asgard ship's control room, Sam immediately felt all eyes turn expectantly towards her. A slight smile spread across her face as she felt the familiar sensation of the Asgard ship suddenly decelerating.

"We're here."

"Already?" Han asked, following the gazes of everyone else as they looked out at the edge of their galaxy.

The almost inaudible exclamation of surprise from the less refined members of the group was cut off as a bright light flashed and they suddenly found themselves looking at the side of a large pyramidal transport ship. Those of the group who hadn't yet seen one calmly took in the view, admiring the flowing lines and aesthetic quality that was, more often than not, overlooked in their own star ships.

Sam, on the other hand, found herself itching to reacquaint herself with the technology and apply the new skills and knowledge that she had learned.

Jack shot her a half amused, half apprehensive look as he picked up on her mood and thoughts. "Easy, tiger."

Sam returned his amused look with one of her own. "You're just hoping that I won't teach you Goa'uld technology, too."

"And miss out on an opportunity to show Jacob and Selmak up?"

Jacob shot him a glare, unsure whether to be amused at the idea, or continue being annoyed at him for stealing his baby girl. "Gee, thanks."

"Anytime."

"I wish you luck in your task, O'Neill." Jack jumped as Thor simultaneously appeared and started talking.

"Thanks, buddy, and thanks for your help."

Thor nodded once and turned towards Luke and Leia. "I am only sorry that I was unable to be of more help to you," he lamented, his own embarrassment at the reasons showing in a darkening of his skin. "I have been able to procure information from the Asgard archives in the hope that it will help to strengthen any new bonds rather than to reopen old wounds."

Leia nodded and smiled warmly, understanding that by doing so, the Asgard were showing that, though they were ashamed of what they had done, they were not holding any secrets from them. "Rest assured, commander, that whatever you did, it is clear to us that you are good people now, and that is all that matters to us."

Luke also added his own confirmation and reassurances on behalf of the Jedi. "The New Jedi Order are neither prejudiced, nor do we hold grudges."

Once again, Thor gave another respectful head-dip and moved back from them before turning his bulbous, shining eyes to Sam. "I will do everything in my power to help Daniel Jackson and Teal'c and ensure that the Tau'ri come to no harm."

"Thank you, Thor, and may the Force be with you."

Thor blinked, not understanding the direct meaning of the words, but understanding enough to know that it was a blessing and farewell. He beamed himself back to the command centre to control the transport ship's departure from his own ship.

Sam and Jack led the boarding of the scavenged Goa'uld vessel as the others took a few seconds to master their surprise over the Asgard's sudden departure. Once aboard, they found the ship fully stocked for about three months of travel as well as many of the other necessities that Sam had...acquired from Earth.

Dentralla gave a roar for Sam to wait, causing them to pause in the corridor for a few seconds before they continued to the 'cockpit', Jacob, Han, and Chewie following shortly after.

The lanky pilot and his hairy cohort both stopped short and gazed sceptically at the room seemingly void of all controls.

"How do you fly this thing?" Han demanded, searching in vain for the myriad of flashing lights, switches and controls that were a sure sign of a control system in any other ship.

Jacob shot him a smirk as he slipped into the pilot's seat and engaged the start-up, putting the headset on and flipping the nav-screen on it forwards. "It's easy; even Jack can do it..."

Jack raised both eyebrows for a second, before shrugging. "Okay, I asked for that one."

Chewie roared a question at them, which Sam obligingly answered, "It's all controlled through the main computer and console." For her father's benefit, she added, "Han likes to think that he's the best pilot in the galaxy."

Han huffed and pointed at her as Chewie let out a raucous laugh. "Hey, no-ones ever beaten my record for the Kessel run!"

Sam raised an eyebrow at him. "That a challenge?"

"You ain't got a chance, kid," Han replied, smirking cockily as Jack let out an exasperated 'oy'.

Before Sam could retort, Leia, Luke, Corran, and Mara entered, their amusement barely hidden.

"I should've known it would be you in the middle of this, Han," Leia commented as she wrapped a slender arm around his waist.

Mara snorted. "If it wasn't Luke, then who else could it have been?"

Corran gave them a pointed look. "Sam."

"What?" she asked innocently. "It's not like I go looking for trouble..."

"Neither do Han or Luke." Leia retorted dryly.

Sam rolled her eyes and turned to Jack, who was slightly bewildered by their sudden change of mood. "Not that they're glad to be going home, or anything..."

Jacob took this opportunity to remind them that they were far from safe yet. "I hate to be the one to burst everyone's bubbles but it's still weeks of travelling yet, and we don't know what we'll be facing when we get there." After a moment's silence to let his point sink in, Jacob cheerfully announced that the ship was up and running, and they were ready to leave.

Carefully manoeuvring out of the large bay, Jacob turned the ship, preparing to open a hyperspace window. There was, once again, a burst of surprise as, instead of the elongating star lines that they were expecting, the ship jumped into the window into hyperspace.

Once the ship had established its course, Jacob removed the headset and dismissed himself with one last, tense glance at Sam.

Corran's eyes switched form Jacob's back to meet Sam's gaze as he raised an eyebrow. "I think someone's a little annoyed."

Sam's gaze hardened. "Well, that's his problem, not mine." She shrugged and stalked out of the room, heading toward an empty corner of the confined room that served as both their quarters and the cargo hold of the transport ship even as her father disappeared into the engine room.

* * *

Sam made it halfway to her chosen corner before she abruptly changed her mind, deciding that, if they were going to spend weeks with each other, they would sort out this problem now.

She found her father digging through their supplies looking for food in the crates that had been put aside in every nook and cranny of the engine room to allow them a little more space aboard the cramped ship.

He didn't hear approach at first due to a combination of Sam's eerie tendency toward silent movement, and his own irritated clattering, much to Selmak's amused annoyance. Silently fuming to himself, he didn't hear her first attempt at gaining his attention, but jumped and spun when she calmly used the Force to tilt the lid of a box from its precarious position, sending it clattering to the floor with a crash.

"Geez, Sam, are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Sam gave him a wan smile. "I'm sure Selmak would have prevented that easily."

Jacobs's eyes narrowed in anger. "You know what I mean."

Sam only nodded, using the Force to sense the sudden change within her father as the symbiote inside him took control, head dipping to hide the eye-flash. The scientific part of her mind analysed the 'feel' of it, noting that as the Force presence of one became muffled, and the other suddenly shone bright.

"I apologise for Jacob's behaviour, Samantha, but you must understand that not only is there little conceivable tactical advantage to your actions, but you have also placed your brother in a position of imminent danger, and this both scares and angers him."

Sam moved further into the room, jumping up to sit on one of the crates of goods. Both her voice and face softened as she took in the Tok'ra's words, appreciating her candid comment and no-nonsense attitude. "I know that he's afraid for him, Selmak, so am I, but you have to see the bigger picture here."

Selmak tilted her head to one side, a frown of confusion creasing Jacob's brow. "I fail to see how this can be of any benefit, in a smaller picture or otherwise."

Sam shrugged. "Doesn't mean it isn't there." She gestured toward the bow of the ship, and the galaxy they were heading into. "You - both of you - have to accept that you don't know, or even understand everything that relates to this situation...there's another element, hell, there's dimension to this entire thing that you don't have a clue about and that changes things."

Selmak, as ever, remained calm, even as Sam could sense the blazing anger of her father, muffled though it was. "You say there is another dimension to this; I assume you mean the one added by the presence of a Goa'uld in this galaxy?" Sam nodded, trying to sense where the symbiote was going with it, even as she familiarised herself with reading a new alien species - new to her Force associations anyway - and built up an understanding of her. "Then are Jacob and I not the ones with the better understanding of a Goa'uld - and a new, unknown one at that - regardless of the fact that they are in another galaxy?"

Sam gave a growl reminiscent of a Wookie. "You see that's just it! You don't have a clue about the differences of this galaxy, of what we face, of a Goa'uld who - despite being unknown - has gained immense power in such a short time, has developed a way to completely hide from both electronic sensors, and our Force sense, who displays few of the usual Goa'uld characteristics and has a frankly freaky way of second guessing everything we've done so far!" At that moment Sam was very glad that they were alone in the engine room and away from unwitting eavesdroppers.

Selmak stood in the face of Sam's incensed diatribe with stoic calm and considered it for a moment, even as she noted that Sam was, for all of her outward passion, obviously controlling it and keeping it tamed.

"I apologise, I had not been made aware that the circumstances were so different."

Sam jumped off of the crate and gestured wildly as she sensed the scepticism of both host and symbiote. "Well, maybe if you listened, you _would_ have." Her voice was rising slightly and she stopped and took a breath to calm herself before she continued. "All of this was detailed at the de-brief, and supported by everyone there! For once in your life, will you just stop for a moment and consider the possibility that being older does not make you instantly wiser!" Her last sentence was directed more at her father than the startled Tok'ra, and Selmak dipped his head and allowed Jacob to resurface, the calm expression melting away into frustrated anger.

"Being older has nothing to do with it, but experience tells me that they will never be safe down there, that the first place that the government will go when they realise that we are missing is to Mark, and they won't stop till they get answers!"

Sam let out a disgusted sigh and turned away from him for a second before whirling back to face him. "You know what, I don't know if I did the right thing! I can't be sure that, that they'll manage, that they'll succeed, Force, I don't even know if they'll survive! But I also know that there is more at stake here than just two, or three people, or even just one world, or galaxy. I may not have made the right decision, or the best decision, but the one thing that I have learned in the last seven years is that if you're given a chance, however remote, you have to take it, because you never know when you'll get another." Her voice had risen in pitch as she released a few of the emotions that she had been keeping such a tight reign on, though she didn't let them control her, and Dentralla came running in, eyes blazing at the diminutive man who dared to threaten her friend.

Jacob frowned, the words and the emotion behind them gradually sinking in as he stood, oblivious to the huge Wookie's deafening scolding.

Without another word, the woman who was in so many ways his daughter, and yet in so many others was a stranger, turned on her heel and walked off, leaving him standing shock.

* * *

Jacob stood just inside the doorway, oblivious to the two Wookies who were currently rumbling at each other about which of the delicacies of Kashyyyk they most looked forward to tasting again, and unseeing of the two alien members of the special ops team who were currently trying - and failing - to best Han in a friendly game of Sabacc. All he was aware of were the two figures of Sam and Jack, both currently sitting around some complex-looking jumble of wires and metal that Sam had obviously decided they would need when - if - they reached this Yavin place.

He'd done a lot of thinking in the last few days, as well as discussing with Selmak the implications of his conversation with Sam and, though he still didn't agree with Sam's decision to leave the others with Mark and his family, he couldn't fault the reasoning, tenuous as it was, behind it and the benefit that it could - possibly - create. He emphasised the possibly, knowing that it was also a huge risk.

But, as Selmak had pointed out to him numerous times, what was done was done, and it was better to shut it out of his mind while there was nothing he could do.

His gaze fixed on the two figures, he watched in fascination as Sam picked some component up and pointed something out to Jack, explaining it as she did so. In the back of his mind, he noted that Jack concentrated, and took every word of it in, before he proceeded to take it gently out of Sam's hands and give a shrug. Shifting his grip on it, Jack proceeded to make it snap like the jaws of a dinosaur, a boyish grin on his face, banishing for a moment, the world-weary look that weighed upon him.

_She looks so happy and at ease.-_ Selmak commented as Sam's face brightened in a grin almost as childlike as Jack's.

I don't ever remember her being able to joke around like this, not since she was a child, and even then it was rare.-

Selmak gave him a mental snort of amusement. -_Is Jack O'Neill really that bad that you hope that it is the people of this galaxy and not him that caused this change in her?-_

Jacob scowled. -Its not that, it's just that...-

_You are so used to him being off-limits to her, as her commanding officer.- _

That, and Jack can be an ass.-

Jacob could almost see Selmak raising an eyebrow. -_You think that she does not know that?-_

Well yeah, but...-

_She is your only daughter, and you wish to keep her to yourself.-_

_­­_-Does that make me selfish?-

_-That makes you human.-_

Right.-

_I have lived for a long time Jacob, and I can honestly say that you are not the first to feel this way, nor will you be the last.-_

_

* * *

_

" Just how old _are_ you, Jack?"

Jack looked up at Jacob with an innocent expression as the hands that had been playing 'Dinosaur' with the piece of tech stilled. He and Sam had both sensed the moment that he entered the room, but had decided that discretion was the better part of valour and had continued as if oblivious. "Don't let the grey hairs fool you, Jake I'm actually only 23."

Jacob snorted and looked directly at Sam. "Sam, honey, I just wanted to say sorry for being an ass.

Sam gave him a small, reconciliatory smile. "Wanna join us? I was just teaching Jack the basics of the mechanics behind the MALPs and FREDs.

Jacob gave a short bark of laughter. "Well, who said you can't teach old dogs new tricks?"

"If I'm old, then what does that make you?"

"Oh please, Jack, you might just as well have said 'I know you are, you said you are, but what am I?'"

"No, that's me, pointing out that if I'm old, then you must be ancient."

Sam merely sat back and laughed at the pair who, despite all of their years and experience, were bickering like children. What she didn't realise until later was just how bad it was going to get with so many people in the small ship for five days running, let alone the weeks they were going to be stuck there.

* * *

Sam looked up as Jack sidled into the otherwise empty engine room rather sheepishly. Most of the time it was only Sam, Jack, and sometimes Jacob down here, as a combination of the almost nonexistent space and their own ideas that you shouldn't stand in an engine room while the engine was running kept the others away.

"Hey," he called quietly, coming to stand by her and giving her an equally sheepish smile.

"Hey," she replied, gracing him with a tired smile.

"Look, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gone ballistic on you like that, and it's just-"

"Two weeks solid with the same people, doing the same thing day in day out gets a little...frustrating. Its okay, Jack, we're all getting a little ...tense, especially since its taking longer than Dad estimated, too."

Jack nodded and slipped in close to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Still, I'm sorry."

Sam in turn wrapped her arms around his neck before making one last point. "You've got to remember to control those negative emotions."

Rolling his eyes and suppressing the irritation that rose at her reminder, Jack finished for her, "Or I'll fall to the dark side."

Sam simply gave him an impish grin and laughed.

"Don't giggle," he mumbled as he leaned in for a kiss, only to be interrupted before their lips had even met.

"Mistress Sam, come quickly! Mistress Sam!"

Jack groaned and Sam closed her eyes for a moment before, outwardly calm and without looking at him, she replied to Threepio, just as he came careening around the corner.

"Threepio, either you have a really good reason for this, or I am going to mount you on the front of this ship as a figure head, and rename it 'Goldenrod'."

"Oh, am I interrupting? I am sorry, but the ship just informed us that we were ten minutes from our destination!"

A grin spread across both Sam and Jack's faces as they disentangled themselves from each other. "I think that qualifies as a really good reason."

Without another word, they ran out of the room, almost knocking a bewildered Threepio over, even as he turned and began to run after them, calling out after them. "Wait for me!" When he realised that they had no intention of waiting for the slow humanoid droid, he resigned himself to arriving alone. "Curse my metal body; it simply doesn't move fast enough!"

Dashing into the control room to find just about everyone else in there - which was no mean feat considering that there were over a dozen of them - and for the first time in about three weeks, Dentralla wasn't grumbling, or destroying anything. Artoo, on the other hand, was warbling and rocking from 'foot' to 'foot' in excitement.

"Brace yourselves," Jacob yelled, not sure what they would find on the other side of the hyperspace window. Thankfully, with barely a tremor running through the ship, they exited to the longed-for sight of Yavin and its fourth moon.

Jacob immediately hit the cloaking control, effectively hiding their existence from prying eyes.

"Where are we going, Sam?" he asked, scanning the moon for sings of civilisation.

"Great temple...biggest one there...here, let me."

Jacob gave her a single, uncertain look before he stood and relinquished the controls to her, trusting that her far superior knowledge of the place would allow her to land more easily.

Slipping the headset on and running over the controls in her head, Sam looked to Luke and Corran. "Land away from the temple and enter on foot? We don't know who's there, and if any of them are spies, and the last thing we want to do is tip our hand."

Luke and Corran both nodded their assent. "What about the third temple?" Corran suggested, his eyes scanning the view from the front veiwport even as Sam brought them into the atmosphere.

She shook her head. "No, if lessons are carrying on as usual, then there'll be apprentices in and out of there. What about there?" She indicated a cleaning off of the beaten track, but still fairly close to the temple.

"Looks good."

Sam took them down and fifteen minutes later, with packs packed and weapons in holsters, they set out with Luke and Mara leading the way, and Threepio complaining about the 'over-abundance of foliage'.

Moving stealthily and keeping well clear of any students or Knights around, it took them forty minutes to reach the back route into the temple. As they crept along one of the stone-walled corridors in the refreshing cool of the temple, those in the group who were Force-sensitive and had their senses stretched and on alert smiled as they sensed four presences up ahead, gaining on them quickly. Those of the group not in on 'the joke' as Han sullenly put it soon had their questions answered as four small figures came hurtling around the corner at top speed, pausing a moment before rushing in with cries of 'Momma!' and 'Daddy!'.

Jacob watched in bemused wonder as Han and Leia fell to their knees and grasped their three children into a tight hug and Corran swept up Valin and whirled him into the air. How could four children know that they were there when they had taken all precautions - including, apparently, shielding themselves within the Force - against being found before they wanted to be.

He was surprised again as the boy in Corran's arms suddenly leapt towards Sam, with a call of "Auntie Sam!", but also refusing to let go of his father, forcing him to step closer so that the boy could embrace Sam at the same time.

At the same time Han and Leia's group widened to include 'Uncle Luke', 'Aunt Mara' and 'Chewie!'

Jacob, Pelari, Borakahk, and Major Gelk stood in silence as the children eventually left their parents to greet both Sam, Jack, Dentralla, and the two droids as well. The touching scene gave Jacob a lot of insight into why they had all fought so hard to return to a galaxy that was, by all accounts, not the most friendly of places to be, even in times of so-called peace.

Five minutes later and they were on their way once again, the four pre-teens complying with the order for absolute silence immediately and with a sombre, knowing expression that chilled Jacob to the bones. They were obviously no stranger to the cloak and dagger scenarios.

Their swift, silent movements soon brought them to an area that was separate from the main 'school' part of the Academy and housed the living areas of some of the long term families.

At the head of the group, Luke sent out a silent command for them all to stop, peering around a corner as the indistinct drone of distant voices drifted to them along the still air. As the voices got closer, the calm tone of one fell away to be replaced by irritation and anger before being shut off fully by the swish of a door closing.

Frowning and confused, Luke quickly came to a decision, no doubt with the mental consultation of Mara before they all moved forward and deftly filed into the door that the voices had disappeared through.

* * *

"So you're telling me that you cannot tell me where the former Chief of State and the leader of the New Jedi Order, two of the most famous and recognisable beings in this galaxy are?" The man's precise, clipped tones were in a similar state as the white-haired man's once pristine uniform now was...unkempt and disarrayed.

Kam, on the other hand, barely looked any better as he sat opposite the insistent man, hands clasped and face taut. "I have told you, Admiral, Master Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo are taking a long needed brea-"

The man snorted. "Just as the Council told me that they were 'attending business at the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4'? I do not appreciate your deceptions, Master Solusar, not when the galaxy is faced with a tyrant worse than the Emperor."

"Admiral, I cannot tell you what I do not-" He looked to the inexplicably opening door, wondering who could have got so close without him sensing them, Pellaeon also looking to see what had stopped him in his tracks. To his utter amazement and considerable joy, Master Skywalker slid silently in, giving Kam a bright grin as first Mara, then the entire Solo Clan, and part of the missing group that had gone in search of the elusive 'Stargate' appeared, along with one human that Kam didn't recognise.

His confusion over not sensing them disappeared as he realised who it was, and he linked the subterfuge with the Force Shroud that would deflect anything but the most determined search...which explained why the children had apparently sensed their approach.

Luke waited until the door had been closed and locked before he spoke, though the grin did not slip from his face. "Thank you for your discretion, Admiral Pellaeon, and I apologise for the subversion." He had known that the older man could easily have spoken their names, or called aloud to them and, though there was no-one nearby, discretion was, apparently, the better part of valour.

Pellaeon glanced momentarily at Kam, his anger clear but fading quickly. "I wish it were under better circumstances that I finally had the chance to visit the famed Jedi Academy, but, as I was telling Master Solusar here, my business with you is dire."

Leia, her arms full of an exuberant Anakin Solo, stepped forward to soothe the leader of the only recently formed Imperial Remnant. "I offer our apologies, but Kam could not have contacted us even if he had known of our whereabouts."

Pellaeon raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued. "I was under the impression that there were few inhabitable places left in the galaxy where the Holonet could not be reached by some means or other?"

Luke and Leia shared a long, evaluating look before Luke replied, "There aren't."

Pellaeon frowned in confusion, but Luke changed the subject before he could comment.

"Now that you've found us, what can we do for you, Admiral?" They knew that it had to be something important for Pellaeon to have left his precious Remnant. The solitary remaining faction of the old Empire had been formed in an area of space on the edges of the unknown regions that still remained loyal to the ways of the Emperor, if not the man himself. They had now formed a tentative alliance with the New Republic – thanks to Leia's help – and the ruling 'council' or Moff's and their cohorts was centred on Bastillion.

Pellaeon snorted. "To start with, I am no longer 'Admiral' Pellaeon...I've no doubt that you've heard of this mysterious commander who has been taking over some of the lesser, rogue Moffs?"

Having been out of the galaxy and therefore out of the loop, they didn't, but they could guess.

"Well, suffice to say he has gained control of the Imperial Remnant and has somehow persuaded several lesser planets surrounding Remnant space to join him. When I opposed him in council, he ordered me locked away to be kept for 'entertainment' and it was only due to the quick thinking of my security captain that I was able to escape. Your famed New Republic Council refused help, claiming that, having renounced the Republic and formed a separate government; it was our problem to deal with." His words became increasingly caustic and sarcastic until he took a moment to calm down and regain his self control. "I know that you, and the Jedi, are more likely to consider the implications that this has on a galactic scale, so I came here in order to at least warn you, though I hope that I can be of use in the upcoming fight. Do not doubt that there is a fight coming...and it will be a huge one...I have seen what this man is capable of and trust me, it far outweighs anything that the Emperor and Vader could have done..."

There was more to it but Pellaeon relaxed, a weight eased from his shoulders at the knowledge that he had warned them, and had taken the first steps toward stopping the man he could describe only as 'Monster'.

Han scowled from behind Leia, shifting Jaina in his arms as he gestured a height in the air. "This guy, was he about so tall, eyes that glow red, a weird voice, and calls himself 'Lord Hetarn'?"

Pellaeon's brow wrinkled as looked at them with surprise. "Yes, you've encountered him before?"

Han's scowl deepened. "Yeah" was all he would say.

Pellaeon frowned in puzzlement again, but Luke, taking in his appearance, and the fatigue of his own group, quickly curtailed any questions.

"I suggest you get some rest, Admiral, and freshen up. Kam here will take you and get you settled in some of the guest quarters, and you just need to ask for anything, and we'll see if we can get it for you."

Kam, who had remained in a gleeful, though shocked, silence nodded and headed for the door, beckoning Palleaon after him. "I am glad to see that you are back, and well, Luke."

"So are we, Kam, so are we." The pair left with the silent understanding that to everyone else, they hadn't returned yet. "In the meantime...Sam, the area of the temple that your quarters are in are otherwise empty, aren't they?"

Sam nodded. "No-one else, for about three levels around."

"Good, take everyone and get them settled temporarily there, and all of you get rested up!"

They took the slightly patronising order well, knowing that Luke meant it only so that they could recover from their weeks aboard the transport ship. Soon, only the Solo clan and Skywalker family remained as they headed for their own quarters, which were on this floor of the temple and just as secluded.

As they followed one of the back routes down to their quarters, Corran sent Valin off to find Mirax, making sure that the boy understood that only Mirax was to come, and that he wasn't to let anything slip. They all knew that they couldn't let the boy know without his mother getting suspicious of where he had disappeared to.

Sam quickly unlocked the three rooms that had once housed Daniel, Teal'c, and Jack. "Okay, Dad, if you wanna take Jack's room, the rest of you can fight over Daniel and Teal'c's rooms, and the clean spreads for the other rooms." She pointed out her own room. "Jack and I'll be in there, 'Tralla's in there...and I'm going to make use of a decent 'fresher for a change."

The rest of the group remained just as sullen and curt as Sam, their euphoria at returning overwhelmed by Pellaeon's slightly pessimistic speech, as well as their tiredness and tension. It also didn't help that they hadn't been able to announce their arrival, and be welcomed back.

Jacob cast one last dark look at Sam and Jack's retreating backs and walked into his room, searching for the bathroom and trying to figure out the peculiar controls on the door inside.


	27. Intelligence

**Chapter 27 – Intelligence**

Trailing behind the darting figures of his daughter and her Wookie life-partner, Jacob glanced sullenly at Jack. "Remind me again why we're doing this?"

Jack gave him a bitter look in reply. "Because the smugglers don't trust Talon Karrde anymore, we need to get information about this Hetarn guy, and Sam has links here."

"On Nar Shadaa."

"Yep"

"The Smuggler's Moon."

"The very same."

"My baby girl has _links_ on a moon filled with alien _smugglers_."

"Oh, they're not all smugglers."

"They're not?" Jacob's voice held both hope and trepidation as he and Jack both sped up and moved to a flanking position once they'd passed the jumbling throng of alien beings at the spaceport exit. They were still being jostled on both sides by hooded, masked, secretive beings and Jacob silently thanked Selmak for dampening the effects of the smells that assaulted him. If Tattooine, the planet they had visited before had been the armpit of the galaxy then Nar Shadaa was the scum that was hitchhiking on the scum already stuck to the bottom of the galaxy's well-worn shoes.

"Nope," Jack replied nonchalantly. "Some of them are thieves, murderers, bounty hunters-"

He was cut off as Sam let out a snort of amusement. "Jack, don't wind him up," she admonished quietly as she followed in Dentralla's wake, making the most of the space the huge biped cleared as she walked. "If it makes you feel any better Dad, I lived - and survived - here for a long time without anyone else's help."

"No, actually it doesn't." While he had known that his daughter's life at the SGC was dangerous, that danger had never felt as real to him as it did now, in such an...alien environment.

Sam's only reply was a shrug, and they continued through streets and along walkways that hadn't seen natural light since before any being still living could remember.

This 'crime lord' - the title still made Jacob think of old gangster movies - that they were going to see was a powerful smuggler by the name of Soren Ta and apparently one of the less giving of Sam's 'links'. Sam had told them little about Soren, only that they had founded and now ran a group of elitist smugglers who ran only high-profit runs and that she had met with the group on an Imperial world whilst tracking the Touched Virus to the Stargate.

After a twenty minute trudge through the grimy crowds, they finally came to a small cantina on one of the slightly higher-class levels of the city.

Sam felt the attention of most of the beings in the room immediately shift to her group as they entered, but to normal perceptions, there wasn't a break in conversation or the flicker of an eye - or other relevant appendage - to give this away.

Mentally taking a deep breath, she sauntered into the room, 'Tralla falling to her left and behind her a half pace even as Jack moved to her right and Jacob took up a rear position. She paid them no heed, pushing back her head sheath as she straddled a bar stool and rested her arms on the table.

'Tralla loped to the stool beside her and took her place, yowling to the barkeep for service.

Jacob and Jack played their roles well, not a trace of the military evident in their movements or attitude. With the sorts of people that you found on Nar Shadaa, giving away that you had any kind of ties to the military of any government could, and probably would, be fatal.

Watching the barkeep without appearing to, Sam was pleased, though not surprised, to note that the bar was free from clutter, the glasses were clean and the barkeep's apron was spotless. But then she expected nothing less from a Ryn and one of Soren's employee's. The Ryn were a private travelling race that was subjected to superstitious fears across the galaxy if they were recognised. Few people could say that they were friends with a Ryn, most not giving them the time of day, but Sam was one of those few. It had been a Ryn who had been instrumental in helping her when she was stuck in her search for the 'Gate.

"Greetings. How may I serve you?" The hairy face smiled genially, a faint whistle sounding through his flute-like beak of a nose.

"Correllian Ale for me and those two on the table back there, and a Honey Ale for her." She indicated Dentralla with her head, her eyes locking with the Ryn's. "And a meeting with Soren Ta," she added pointedly.

"I'm afraid I don't know who you're talking about."

Sam resisted the urge to roll her eyes as the monotone response was given without the bat of an eyelid. "Me toh wanna Soren Ta biyou."

"Chivous tallaan hor."

"Ten ah."

The Ryn shook his head adamantly and Sam's face hardened as she raised an eyebrow before switching to the musical Ryn language, although somewhat haltingly.

"Shellaliah fortein Soren Ta minon nathe."

She let a slight smile escape as the Ryn's eyes widened hugely and he gave a short bow before scurrying off and she let out a long sigh of relief, mumbling to Dentralla. "I'm just glad I didn't get that wrong and insult him."

Dentralla urfed in amusement as a server-droid brought their drinks to them. It was only five minutes before the Ryn returned to usher them through a staff door, her three companions falling into their guard positions as they traipsed through the corridors and into a large, extravagant room.

On a large chair at the end of the room was Soren Ta; men stood beside the throne, ready to take orders, and there were also several other men dotted around the room, either absorbed in tasks or standing guard. Casting her Force sense around the room Sam sensed that, although they appeared outwardly absorbed in their tasks, they were on edge, ready for any sudden order their Mistress may give. Judging by the numbers of beings who had crossed Soren and lived to tell the tale...lets just say that it was probably good that she came prepared for the smuggler's often vengeful mood swings. She liked to know everything and when she didn't...she struck out.

Sam swept up the room to stand before Soren Ta, a swagger in her step and a cheeky smirk spread across her face.

Soren Ta stared at her for a moment before returning the smile and standing. Jacob and Jack were careful to keep their eyes downcast as Sam had instructed them.

Giving a respectful nod as the tall, muscular woman stood and stepped down to her level, Sam was surprised to find the nod returned. Soren hadn't changed much, with the exception of the colour of the tattoos that ran across her face in a tribal design, disappearing into her collar and reappearing from her cuffs. They were a vivid red this time, very different to the sombre black they'd been last time they'd met, and Sam noted in passing that where the lines disappeared into ebony hair, they left trails of vivid red hair.

"If it isn't Sam Carter and Dentralla...I'd assumed you'd both been vaped when you disappeared off of the circuit...after all, you'd only been in the game for eight or nine months." She smirked, her voice hoarse.

"If I'd known you cared, I'd have sent you a holo." Sam's comment brought a tight smile to the other woman's lips before she flicked her gaze to Jack and Jacob, her eyes lighting in interest.

"I see you've moved up in the world." Soren moved to Jack's side, obviously sizing him up. "I don't suppose you're here to sell are you?"

All traces of humour slipped from Sam's face. "You already know the answer to that, Soren."

Soren pulled her hand away from Jack's chin and stalked back toward her throne. "Ah, but Sam, that's just it...you're one of the few people I _don't_ know." Soren gave a wave of an arm, her hand making some unknown signal and the men who had previously seemed busy in other tasks, were stood circling them, weapons pointed at them. "And that makes you dangerous."

Dentralla gave an angry yowl and reached for her bowcaster even as Jacob and Jack whipped their blasters out of their holsters and aimed them out at the group.

Sam remained eerily calm and motionless; her only movement was to allow a feral grin to form on her lips.

Reaching her throne, Soren turned and sat, arms draped over the sides as she raised a single eyebrow. "I think you had better call off your _slaves_ don't you?"

Sam ignored the obvious jibe; Soren knew that she abhorred slavery and slavers and tolerated Soren's use of slaves only because they were willing slaves, who had sold themselves for whatever reason.

Sam shrugged. "Put 'em away, guys."

Jacobs's eyes never left Soren's men. "Sammie-"

"Trust me." Jacob hesitated a moment and relented only when Jack and Dentralla reluctantly holstered their own weapons, leaving them loose and ready for action nonetheless. Squashing her confusion over Soren's sudden offensive, Sam kept her eyes on Soren, but gestured to the two men. "Soren Ta, I'd like you to meet my partner, Jack O'Neill, and my father, Jacob Carter."

Soren regarded them carefully, her head cocked to one side as if she were listening to someone. "Well, isn't that interesting?" she commented after a few seconds. "There's more to your father than meets the eye...he's almost a kindred spirit."

Sam felt her father tense, and she stretched her senses out just a little more, seeing if there was anyone she'd missed in her earlier search of the room. Nothing. Except...a faint flicker of an alien life form, just behind Soren.

"I don't think there's _anyone_ quite like you, Soren."

Soren gave a sweet smile. "That's why I say _almost_ a kindred spirit. Tell me, how is it that you came to have such an unusual soul-partner?"

Jacob remained silent, a slight frown creasing his face.

Slightly annoyed by this, Soren rose to her feet in one fluid movement, stepping down from her gaudy throne. "I tell you what...I'll share my story, and then you share yours. You should feel privileged...few people know my story. Even less survived.

"I am the only surviving daughter of a royal-born Dathomir witch. My mother was the most powerful of her tribe and some say of the entire planet, and my elder sisters were all powerful in the magic. I, on the other hand, had no talent what so ever. After leaving the planet shortly after the _illustrious_ Jedi Master Luke Skywalker freed it from the clasps of the Empire, I discovered that there was a way for me to have that power, and to be something more than the useless, pathetic being I was. Glitterstim. They said that this, the rarest of all spices gives you Jedi powers, and it did. I had power like the rest of my people."

A faraway look crossed Soren's face as she thought of the power that she had held, and Sam shuddered at the mere thought of it. "As I'm sure you know though, spice carries its price...I nearly died and the only reason that I am here now is because of the help of my soul-partner." She gave a wave and the alien being that Sam had briefly sensed earlier suddenly burst forward from behind the throne, darting happily around Soren and casting a white glow over everything.

Sam was forcibly reminded of the ancients, but while there were similarities to the glowing jellyfish, this being was a lot smaller - a third of the height of Soren - and in the brief moments when it was still, Sam could glimpse a humanoid male figure, the effervescent white glow being cast by ethereal wings that seemed to be made of glowing white streamers.

"Tuanin here saved my life. He comes from a rare and almost extinct race called the Seraphein." Soren held out a hand to Tuanin with a love-filled look on her face. "Without him I'd never have been able to overcome my addiction to spice and would be nothing, if I weren't dead."

_Well, that explains a lot_, Sam thought, eying the Seraphein warily.

"I've explained my circumstances, now you can explain yours..."

Fixing her eyes on the darting white form of Tuanin, Sam quickly came to a decision, knowing that they needed not only to survive this, but also to get a hold of any information that Soren may have.

"Fine, we'll tell you...but first there is a little background that you need to know."

Soren narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Alright, but be quick."

Sam nodded. "Being a smuggler of your stature, I'm sure that you know of the newest Imp 'Lord' to rise up in the Remnant, yes?"

Soren snarled but nodded and Sam could sense the anger that the mention of Hetarn inspired in her.

"Well, he is actually a man controlled by an alien parasite bent on galactic control. Now the reason that we are here is because we have...a score to settle with him and to do so we need information on him."

Once again there was a flash of recognition within Soren and Sam had to quell a wave of glee as she realised that they had finally, after several months of searching, found someone who could help them.

"The being that controls this lord is of a sister race to the symbiote that shares its body with my father."

Soren stared at her for a moment, a crease of concentration wrinkling her brow. "You use 'parasite' for one and 'symbiote' for another...what is this difference?" she demanded. "Can I talk to this symbiote?"

Sam nodded. "Selmak?"

Selmak didn't bother to hide the flash of gold in his eyes as he took over Jacob's body and gave an aborted nod to Soren. "I am Selmak of the Tok'ra. I am sure that in other circumstances I would have been pleased to make your acquaintance."

Soren gave a loud, high laugh that was all at once genuine and coldly false. "I'm sure...however, there are few people that Tuanin cannot read and your daughter and her...partner here are two examples of such. This makes them dangerous and, unfortunately for you, I cannot allow such a threat to continue."

"You mean you're throwing a hissy fit just because you can't tell what we're thinking?" Jack had finally given up on diplomacy, realising that Soren had already made up her mind about them. Sam was surprised that he'd lasted as long as he had.

"It's not as precise as mind reading but," Soren shrugged, "how else do you think that I've lasted as long as I have in this galaxy?"

"Oh for cry-"

"Enough. You cannot tell us anything more that we do not already know. I apologise, Sam, but you know how it is..."

Sam nodded once and raised an eyebrow. "Every being for themselves..."

"No hard feelings?"

"Not on my part."

Soren flashed them a smile and gestured to the guards again and they braced themselves ready to fire. "It's a shame; you would have made an excellent addition to my crew otherwise." Soren seemed genuinely remorseful at the course of action she had to take as she gave the final gesture for her guards to fire.

Sam, however, was ready for them and even as Jack and Jacob once again reached for their weapons, hoping to take a few of the others out with them Sam threw up a Force-shield around them , drawing off all of the raw energy long before it could reach them. She'd sent a subtle hand signal to Dentralla just before Soren had theatrically ordered their execution, warning Dentralla to be ready for Sam pull the 'energy-sucking trick' as the Wookie had dubbed it and her furry companion now had her bowcaster aimed at Soren's head.

Sam was standing still and calm, acting with a confidence she didn't really feel as the sounds of blaster fire died away. Jack had sensed her intent at the last moment stopped Jacob from firing, though they still brandished their weapons.

She smiled brightly, "I'd hoped we wouldn't have to resort to this but..." she cocked her head, resisting the urge to physically gesture as she used the excess energy to pull the weapons away from the guards and heated them into a useless molten mass. She used a little more of the energy to hold the guards where they stood.

She had to squash the urge to fidget as her body went hyperactive with the excess energy she held back to keep her attention and Force sense up.

Soren had jumped to her feet in shock and now stood wide-eyed and wonder-struck. "How? What? How?" She spluttered incoherently, Tuanin fluttering around in a frightened frenzy.

"I daresay that it's the same thing that stops Tuanin from being able to...'read' me."

"You're a Jedi." The statement came with surety as everything clicked into place for the Dathomir woman and her soul-partner.

"Got it in one."

Soren slumped to her seat and stared in shock for a moment before shaking her head. "I should have known."

Sam shrugged. "No-one's perfect. Now, there's the little matter of Lord Hetarn to discuss."

Soren's face shuttered. "There's nothing to discuss. He's cut off all of my most profitable trade routes and has stolen some of my most loyal and valuable employees."

Jack scowled at her; unable to understand how Sam could be so friendly with her after she just tried to have them all killed. "Well then you won't be wanting to protect him, will you?"

Soren shot him a glare. "Nor will I aid the Jedi or the New Republic!"

"Why the hell not? It's you we'd be helping in the long run!"

"Helping or controlling? You can fight your own battles; the smugglers stand alone."

"Oh please, you're worse that the damned Inner Council."

"Fine," Sam announced to Jack's surprise. He'd sensed that they needed the knowledge too. "If that's the way you want to play it then we'll find someone else to help us." She turned on her heel and began to walk off, but Soren's call halted her.

"Wait. I can give you the information, but on one condition."

"What is it?" Sam turned back and asked her.

"I want no mention of my participation in this...I have an image to uphold and I'd be ridiculed if anyone found out."

Sam shrugged. "Done."

"That's it?"

"That's it. You will, of course, be paid for the information," Sam told her with a cheerful grin. "The same rates as would apply to any other smuggler offering useful information."

Soren's eyes lit up as she realised there was a way for her to regain face in the matter. "You read my mind," she commented with an ironic smile. "Now, if you'll give me a little time, I'll prepare copies of the hard data that I have and I'll answer questions over a meal...some of it seems somewhat...unbelievable."

Sam nodded and released the guards, who reluctantly trailed out after Soren, leaving them in the room alone.

As soon as they were alone, Jack turned to Sam. "Are you crazy?" he hissed at her. " 'Please, let me make a meal full of poison for you so that I can kill you off another way'!" He mimicked Soren in a falsetto voice.

Sam rolled her eyes at him. "She's not going to try to kill us. Not this time anyway..."

Jack and Jacob gave her a sceptical look as Dentralla growled a comment, lowering her bowcaster.

Sam absently translated, "She says our uses outweigh the threat we pose at the moment, so she'll leave us be. She wouldn't have gotten so much power if she wasn't practical in her disposal of people."

"Gah! Well, as long as she's _practical_ then that's okay!"

"Jack stop being such a..."

"Ass?" Jacob suggested.

"I was going to say Nerfherder, but that works."

"Well ex_cuse_ me for wanting to reach my next birthday but-"

Sam clamped a hand over his mouth with an exasperated sigh, "if you don't shut up whining then I'm going to let 'Tralla baby-sit you. I lived in this world for longer than I care to remember, Jack, and not just when I was looking for the 'gate. This was how I thought the whole galaxy lived; this is what I'm most used to!"

Jack glared at her but spread his arms in silent acquiescence, and Sam released her hold on his mouth.

"It just seems...suicidal to me, is all."

"Hey, if I can accept it, Jack, then so can you." Jacob cut in, earning himself a gruff growl of approval and a pat to the shoulder that nearly sent him flying across the room.

Jack had got so used to life at the temple that he'd forgotten Sam's less than wholesome roots in this galaxy. Coupled with the fact that it had been a long time since he'd been in a situation where he'd had to play people like this, it made him more than a little grumpy.

He gave only a non-committal grunt in reply as one of Soren's slave-aides re-entered the room.

"Mistress Soren is ready to receive you now, if you'd follow me."

Sam cast her companions a hooded look before giving a vague shrug as if to say 'what else can we do?' before trailing after the aide. Dentralla was walking protectively at her heels almost immediately.

* * *

The chime of his door alarm announced the presence of a visitor and Hetarn put down the datapad he was scanning, absently flicking the door release.

The brisk, straight-backed figure of his Chief Science Officer strode efficiently in, snapping to attention before him and waiting to be addressed.

"You have good news, I hope?"

"Yessir. The modifications have been made, and the shield has been tested extensively...there will not be a repeat of my earlier mistakes."

Hetarn nodded, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips as he caught the flicker of fear in the man who appeared otherwise calm. Where the System Lords and their brethren may have executed a man for a lesser mistake than Charveur had made, Hetarn had recognised that to do so would be a waste of a highly skilled technician. The mistake was a simple one and had set them back considerably, but he had no doubt that all of the Science Officers would be considerably more careful when dealing with the alien technology that was so unfamiliar to them. "Very good. You will have one sent immediately to me."

"Yes my lord."

"You will also start to replicate them; I want to be able to equip the operatives that we are going to recover from the Jedi. It is about time that the nuisance was wiped from this galaxy."

Even as he planned the demise of the Jedi, he wondered once again just how they had come to find out that there were some of their own who were now Goa'uld. He'd thought it would take them considerably longer to discover the ways that they were hiding themselves from the other Jedi, especially since the reunited SG1 had been banished from the galaxy. All of it would be of no consequence in a day or two though, as he would eradicate those that he did not have implanted. Why waste such a resource?

"Yes my lord."

"Dismissed." He offered the officer a vague wave, even as he sent for his key tactical staff. The man about turned crisply, striding purposefully out.

* * *

Sam looked across at her father, asking the question even though she could sense his confusion through the Force. "Can you work anything out from this?"

Forehead creased in concentration as he read the data, translated into English. "Not really," he replied absently. "None of it makes sense...it's like we're missing something here."

Sam nodded and cast a glare at Jack as he sauntered in and plonked himself down in the over-sized co-pilot's chair and resting his feet on the edge of a console.

Catching her glare, he sheepishly moved his feet to the deck. "We'll just have to see if the others can make any sense of it back at the temple," he said. "It might be something that they take for granted but would be way out there for us."

Sam shrugged, scanning the data herself, for the third time.

Soren had reluctantly handed the data chips over, adding a little commentary as she delayed it as much as possible, trying to regain some kind of composure and sense of control on the matter.

They now had a detailed background on Hetarn's military career, though that was mostly irrelevant as the symbiote now had control. A part-Chiss, part-Human recruit who had only managed to reach the heights he had in the Empire after the demise of the Emperor and a the forging of a few records to show him as human, he was known for his tactical skill, although it was often overthrown by ambitious stupidity.

Soren had also included reports that groups of scientists were secreted away somewhere where they developed strange new technologies, drugs, armours; you name it, they'd worked on it. There were complementary sightings of obscure, tacky artefacts being shipped between planets and ships...all the ingredients for typical Goa'uld behaviour. What didn't fit, however, was the reports that things were being adapted to look less obvious; Goa'uld weren't exactly known for their subtlety.

Reading this report, Sam remembered the unusual form of the ribbon device that he'd used against them. It also brought to the foreground her fearful contemplations over what could have blocked them from sensing the troops, or Hetarn, but didn't strip them so completely of the Force as it would if each of the had an Ysalimiri in a nutrient frame. Absently, she wondered if they had anything to do with reports of every stormtrooper under Hetarn's rule being given a regular inoculation against some unknown virus or disease.

All four of them had been through the information more times than they cared to remember, but neither their knowledge of the Goa'uld, or 'Tralla's knowledge of the galaxy had yielded any deeper understanding of what was happening. All they'd been able to do was put together the snippets of facts that Soren had gained through her interactions with the New Empire, as it was becoming known. They had nothing.

They were suddenly jolted out of their musings as the proximity alarms went off, Jack quickly vacating his chair for its rightful owner, strapping in behind Sam instead.

Twenty minutes of flurried, but confident movements later and the ship set down in the clearing out front of the Great Temple. Flicking off a last few systems, Sam was the last to leave the cockpit and was surprised to find that no one had come out to greet them and see if they had discovered anything of any use.

Jack glanced at Sam and frowned. "I don't like this." His statement held the echoes of the countless times he'd said the same thing before a mission, only to have it go utterly wrong.

Sam nodded, her danger sense starting to tingle at the back of her mind as she stepped off the ramp of the ship. "Me neither," she reached down and pulled one of her sabres out, her thumb hovering over the trigger.

"What is it?" Jacob asked, the confusion in his voice tinged with worry.

"A hunch," Jack replied absently, pulling his own blaster out.

"That's it? A hunch?"

Dentralla barked at him to shut up; a phrase that he'd recognise any time after having spent several weeks in confined space with her.

The Tok'ra shot her a dirty look but complied anyway, drawing his own, unfamiliar weapon and following after his daughter, her boyfriend, and her eight-foot-walking-teddy-bear-with-a-gun.

Entering the main hangar bay, the usual bustle of the Temple was conspicuously absent and the tension in all four beings gradually increased, reaching tumultuous heights as they made their way to the Grand Audience Chamber.

Reaching the large doors, Sam sensed that whatever the danger was, it was on the other side of those doors. Glancing at Jack and receiving a taut nod from him, she gathered the Force to herself and, using it to push the doors dramatically open; she flew in as if she was riding on a wind.

She barely paused as she took in the sight of all the Jedi surrounded by countless squads of Stormtroopers, those that they'd determined to be Goa'uld standing guard at the sides of the lounging figure of Hetarn, who smirked as she entered, not betraying a flicker of emotion beyond smugness.

In that split second of surprise, her only thought was, _How did he capture the entire Academy?_


	28. Battle

**Chapter 28 – Battle**

The barest pause in her headlong, reckless rush into the room was the only sign that she had stopped to take any note of her surroundings as she sprinted into the room. Pulling both sabres out she zeroed in on the imposing, and irritatingly serene figure of Hetarn. Her best hope was to reach him before he'd had a chance to engage his personal shield. With that up she knew that her lightsabers would be useless. Their energy output was guaranteed to cause the shield to flare up and deflect the blades.

She put on a burst of speed, using the Force to enhance it and slipped along the length of the room in a blur of colour, sweeping the blades around in an anger-furled arc, one whirling to bisect his neck, the other his torso.

"Argh!"

The cry was a mixture of anger and pain as she found herself being flung three metres back, landing painfully sprawled on the hard stone, winded. His shield was already up and it had somehow managed to take the energy she had been directing at it and use it to throw her back.

It was only now that Hetarn moved, sliding out of his seat and stalking towards her, a twisted smirk on his face.

"I thought Jedi didn't act in anger," he mocked.

It was only now that she realised the only people in the room that she could sense were the Jedi who had now become hosts. She took a deep breath and pushed herself to her feet, favouring her left arm.

She regarded him with unveiled hatred. "I'm surprised you're still in the same, _weak_, body," she taunted him, hoping that she could goad him into coming close enough that she could penetrate his shield and take him out from within it.

"Oh let me assure you, _Samantha_, this body is far from weak…it is merely untrained. Something we can remedy in no time, I'm sure." Hetarn stepped closer once again, and Sam kept her face and body carefully neutral, desperate not to give her advantage away. "Or would you rather I take a more powerful host?...Perhaps Luke Skywalker, or Mara Jade? I'm sure that they would make _wonderful_ hosts."

Sam spat a vehement Huttese curse at him, preparing to call a lightsaber to her, only to find it being ripped out of her reach. As her sense of both weapons was abruptly cut off, no doubt by the devices being pulled into the Force-less bubble of an Ysalamiri, she changed tack abruptly, flinging herself at Hetarn and throwing up a shield to stop any blaster bolts sent her way.

_Sam, No!_

She heard Jack's mental plea as she leapt, and ignored it, focused entirely on getting her hands around Hetarn's neck. The stab of pain that Jack was too late to shield her from sensing was harder to ignore and the impact of several blaster bolts on her Force-shield was echoed seconds later by the jarring blow that Hetarn delivered squarely to her jaw, the back of the hand device cutting deeply into her jaw.

She barely kept a hold on consciousness and her protective barrier as she hit the floor, raising herself and blinking away stars as she sought out Jack with both her eyes and the Force.

He was lying on the floor, his head cradled on Jacobs's knees, a wisp of smoke rising from his chest; he was undetectable through the Force.

_No_, she silently pleaded. She should have listened to him. If she had then maybe he wouldn't be lying there dead now. A small part of her mind niggled at her, trying to tell her that it was because she let the dark side control her that he was dead, but once again she didn't listen to it.

For a moment she could only stare at his unmoving body, almost catatonic in her grief. She had killed Jack; she had killed the man she loved.

"I would suggest that you do not move." Hetarn's voice had lost all of its amusement, and it cut sharply into the silence that had fallen on her as the realisation of what her actions had cost her sunk in. "If you move again, then another of your companions will die…be it the Wookie or the Tok'ra…who can tell?"

Sam narrowed her eyes at them and moved to throw an energy-draining barrier between the weapons and her friends, only to remember that they were cut off by Ysalimiri and she was helpless to protect them.

Eyes fixed on the tense, frustrated forms of Dentralla and Jacob, both of whom were distraught at being unable to help the man they both considered family; Sam could feel her anger and hatred screaming for attention at the back of her mind like caged animals, desperate to break out and rip the life from those who threatened their territory.

The dull ache in her left arm complimented the dull ache in her heart as she continued to stare as if catatonic, realising only too late that she was being approached by an ex-student of the temple.

A large hand gripped her arm above the elbow, sending jarring pain through it as bones she hadn't realised were broken ground against one another, lighting her nerves on fire.

The Dark Side flared within her as her little remaining control on her emotions snapped. She spun around to face the Correllian, right hand grasping him around the throat, her face contorting grotesquely.

Greedily, she reached out with the Force and began to drain the life from the man, sucking his energy out and absorbing it for herself. As she reached the end of the process she felt something give and, as the Jedi's neck crumbled away to dust in her hand, the skeleton of both Human and Goa'uld falling to the ground, a shimmering presence appeared beside her and laid a translucent hand on her arm.

The bones began to fade away and became one with the Force as a voice echoed to her as if from a great distance.

_Hope remains_.

With this connection to the shimmering presence she felt a sense of peace as the pure soul of the student was released from the torturing hold of the Symbiote. This peace forced her to calm her emotions, and regain control of her anger, pushing the Dark side away again. She swallowed down the bile that rose in her throat as she realised what she had done; memories of the episode in the forest returning to her. She'd believed that she'd killed her friends for a short time then, and the pressing knowledge of what she'd become if she gave in again weighed heavily on her. She could not let that happen.

_Free them._

The Force-made figure beside her was already beginning to fade as she turned and looked at it in confusion, taking a deep breath to calm herself, and running through Jedi calming techniques as she did so.

_The host can be freed._

Sam's eyes widened as her confusion turned to understanding and, her face grim, she nodded to the man she'd killed. "Sorry, and thanks."

The almost invisible figure smiled, sending out one last sense of peace at having been able to give his companions the chance at freedom he'd been denied.

_Hope remains._

The last, cryptic words echoed forcefully in her mind as she closed her eyes and concentrated on holding her shield through the pain in her arm, and her grief and anger at having lost Jack. She could use her darker emotions, but she couldn't let them control her.

Extending her Force sense to every detectable host in the room she located the symbiote within, careful to make herself hard to detect. If they caught on to what she was going to do then the hosts would die as well.

Once she was certain that her hold on each of the Goa'ulds was sufficient, she manipulated the Force and used her telekinesis to quickly, and painlessly snap the neck of each of them, leaving their bodies to break down as Jolinar's had within her body all those years ago.

Her task there finished, she quickly turned her concentration to Hetarn, only vaguely aware of the gasps, and cries around her as the Jedi hosts stumbled around, disoriented at their sudden freedom.

A slight frown creased Hetarn's face as the people that he thought were his loyal guards began to drop their weapons and release the other Jedi.

"Goa'uld kree!" he yelled as Sam advanced on him, letting her anger show in her face even though she was now controlling it. In her mind's eye, the beast of her anger was now locked firmly in a durasteel cage, unable to escape any time soon. She also understood that only with time would she be able to then bury that cage beneath layer upon layer of duracrete to stop it from re-emerging.

"Give up now and you need not die."

Panic showed in Hetarn's eyes as, initially, Jacob and Dentralla appropriated weapons and began to take control of the guards. They fought for a moment but were soon out numbered by the Jedi who, even without the Force were perfectly capable of handling blaster rifles.

"Never," Hetarn snarled, stepping away from Sam.

Sam shrugged. "Fine then." It took a split-second shift in her concentration to allow her to drain the energy from the shield that protected Hetarn, and she didn't even blink as he sent a wave of energy at her from his ribbon device. Ordinarily, she would have been thrown meters away by the force of it, but she had been expecting it and absorbed the extra energy without a second thought.

Snarling again at the failure of his shield, Sam realised too late that he had moved to stand in the centre of a ring device that he must have had installed especially.

"Dammit!" she cursed as his gloating visage disappeared from view.

"Sam! Get over here!"

Spinning around at the sound of her father's voice, she allowed the distractions of the rest of the room to enter the foreground of her mind again.

She realised that someone must have removed some of the Ysalamiri from the main part of the room when she could sense a few of the people in the room, though many were still invisible to her.

It was one of those in particular that caught her attention almost immediately; Jack's Force-sense was weak, and holding on by a thread, but it was there none the less. She broke into a run, barely stopping in time as she crashed to her knees beside him.

Her hands were shaking uncontrollably, though she was unsure whether it was from fear for Jack, relief that he wasn't dead yet, or the immense pressure of the energy that she had absorbed.

Cilghal was there, a medikit open and in use, but she was obviously frustrated at the fact that whatever had been done to her to strip her of the Force had left her unable to help Jack as much as she would have liked.

"Hold on, Jack, come on…you'll be fine…just hold on…please!"

She got no response from him, other than a wheezing breath that rattled its way out painfully. "Please, Jack..." She reached out to him with the Force, but his mind had closed itself off from the pain, locking itself away with happier memories.

She hoped for some kind of response, but there was none, and she could feel his life slipping away, the last thread that held it preparing to let go. There was no sudden awakening; no quick grin and cocky assertion that it was only a flesh wound; not even a Shakespearean re-awakening to exclaim that alack! He died. Nothing.

Her limbs trembling erratically, Sam tried the only thing that she could think of…it might not work, given her lack of ability in the healing field, but she had to try.

Reaching out a hand she began to release the energy she held, focusing it on healing his wound. The trembling stopped almost immediately and her eyes closed as she concentrated, subconsciously pushing Cilghal away as she used her energy to try to help him.

All that there was left to do was hope, so hope she did, even as she slipped into blackness, slumping onto Jack's chest.

* * *

Wedge Antilles braced himself at his command post as the stars stretched themselves into long lines for a second before reforming into the shape of the enormous gas giant Yavin, and its fourth moon.

He hoped that they had arrived in time, though he also knew that the bickering of the Inner Council had greatly reduced that probability.

"General, all ships have reported in and are awaiting your commands."

Wedge nodded and opened his mouth to ask where the enemy ships were, closing it again as the captain of the command ship pre-empted his question.

"I'm afraid there is nothing appearing on our scanners at this point sir." The Captain's eyes flickered almost imperceptibly to the subdued form of the Imperial Admiral Pellaeon before he reluctantly continued. "But… it is entirely possible that enemy ships could be shielded behind Yavin 4, or even the gas giant itself."

He could understand the Captain's obvious disapproval…he himself wasn't entirely comfortable with Pellaeon's presence, but the Imperial was their only source on what was going on and, given his knowledge of events that had been kept firmly under wraps from almost everyone, they had no choice to but to trust him.

"Send the Wraiths to scout about and see if they can find anything then, Captain," he ordered, silently hoping that there was nothing to worry about, and that this Lord Hetarn was safely ensconced elsewhere, though he doubted it.

Pellaeon was adamant that he had only narrowly avoided being caught by the incoming forces. The Jedi had been in complete silence for a long time, and that had worried the Inner Council enough that they'd actually listened to the Imperial, and sent a small fleet out here. And they hadn't taken months to come to the decision.

Captain Shoreign nodded and had begun to turn away when the loud exclamation of the comms lieutenant caught his attention.

"Sir, I'm getting a transmission from the surface…it's Master Skywalker."

Raising an eyebrow at Pellaeon, whose forehead creased in confusion, Wedge signalled for the Captain to hold his previous order and nodded for the transmission to be displayed.

Seconds later, the minimised form of Luke Skywalker appeared at his command station.

"Wedge, what brought you here?" Luke asked almost immediately, his posture tense.

"Luke? That really you?" Wedge asked in surprise. He really hadn't expected it to actually be his old friend there; last he'd heard Luke was either dead, or in another galaxy with no hope of return.

"Yes, it's me, Wedge," he gave a tired smile. "Watch your back up there; Hetarn just beamed away not more than five minutes ago."

"He did _what_?"

"I'll explain later; it's possible that he's left already but unlikely…he's too proud to just let it go like that."

Filing the half-dozen questions that had sprung up in their few-second conversation away for later consideration, Wedge turned his mind toward more pressing issues. "Can you tell us where?"

Luke gave a frustrated sigh. "I'm afraid I can't…I can't even give you a rough estimation."

"You okay?"

"I'll be fine, given a little time and some rest. How-"

"General, sir, we're detecting enemy craft at four-zero-three, nine-nine-one and closing."

"We've got trouble up here, Luke…you got any help you can send?"

Again Luke let out a frustrated sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. It was unnerving to see him without his shroud of Jedi calm. "I'm afraid not…it's all gone to Kessel down here…"

"Alright; I'll get back to you when I can." Almost immediately, Wedge's attention was focused on the battle plan that had appeared for him, and he barely registered Luke's farewell nod before the connection was cut.

Studying the formation of the Imperial fleet, Wedge frowned. It was unlike any battle style he'd seen before, and he'd seen more than a few.

The Imperial ships had formed themselves into a defensive pattern around and in front of the large white Star Destroyer that was evidently Hetarn's flagship.

He counted five large assault cruisers and two smaller frigates as they rounded the large sphere of the gas giant.

By his calculations, their five Dreadnaughts and four frigates just about matched them, though the Star Destroyer would be hard to tackle.

"Launch four squadrons of X-wings and two of A-wings, and close this gap ASAP," he commanded. It was hard to tell at the moment, but it seemed as if the Imperial ships had been caught unawares and were rushing in headlong, aiming to just shoot them out of space in a few moments. It was the strategy of a commander used to having the superior firepower, and subordinates who were willing to sacrifice themselves at a command. He'd seen it before with overzealous warlords, and he made the judgement that if they didn't back off, and pushed their way forward with equal surety, then that would stump the other commander.

It was a risk, but then, all battles were.

* * *

Letting rip an enormous snarl of rage as he stepped out of his ring platform, Hetarn stalked over to his holo console and keyed for the command centre. "Captain, I want you to target the Great Temple with all available weapons systems. I want that place razed to the ground and those cursed Jedi destroyed!"

"My Lord?"

"Do it Captain, or would you rather I found you a replacement?"

"Yes, my Lord." The hologram of the Captain - he forgot names; they changed so often - turned away and spoke to some unseen person for a moments and Hetarn gave a grim smile. He would enjoy this immensely. That Tau'ri Jedi should never have-

"My Lord, our sensors have just picked up enemy ships entering the system…we are currently hidden, but chances are, they'll send out a scout ship."

Hetarn frowned; his vengeance would have to wait. Pulling up the data in the command consoles in his quarters, he studied the information for a few short minutes.

"Captain, relay orders to the four Katana Dreadnoughts to engage their cloaking devices immediately and each to move 500 clicks out into a spread-box formation 100 clicks ahead of the main group. The rest are to form a shield in front of the _Chariot_ and prepare to move out in three minutes. We'll hit them hard and fast, and they'll never suspect anything."

There was a short pause before the Captain's curt reply of "Yes, sir", just long enough to show that he was both confused and disapproving. Now, however, was not the time to admonish him for it…he was still following his orders, after all.

* * *

Wedge frowned as his eyes followed the numerous little dots that flew across the display, each one representing the one-man fighters that had engaged in the rapidly closing gap between the two fleets.

The Imperials had come in fast and, though he was glad to see that the number of green dots far outweighed the red dots, it troubled him that there were no signs of panic or confusion. Usually, upon recognition of the fact that they had the weaker force, the enemy fleet would slow and try for a more strategic attack, if they didn't just run all together, but they were still coming in fast and furious. They were either being led by someone clinically insane - which, from what he'd heard of both Hetarn, and the Goa'uld, was entirely possible - or they knew that they had back-up on the way, or just round the corner.

Turning and searching out an Intel officer he strode over to stand beside her. "Lieutenant, I want you to do a search for all wide-band comms chatter, anomalous readings…anything that could even remotely suggest that there are any incoming or hidden forces."

"Yessir; I already started the usual scans, but the usual chatter is either useless or coming up heavily encrypted in an unrecognised code."

"Assign the usual stuff to someone else and start looking for anything that you don't recognise, or have never encountered before."

The Lieutenant gave a curt nod and began her task as Wedge turned and all but ran back to his command post even as a count-down informed him that the Imperials would be in range in "5…4…3…2…1…" The final proximity alarm was silenced just as the first impact of laser fire on their shields came, sending tremors throughout the ship.

Time became an indistinct thing for Wedge as he became absorbed in the details of the space battle, his mind habitually calculating where to send this ship, or that ship; which ship had the strongest defences; where the enemy's weakest spots were. It was something that he'd been doing for so long now, that he doubted there was anything else he could do any more; something that bothered him a lot. For all that he prayed for peace, and an end to the war, there was a part of him that would feel lost without it, and that thought had kept him awake countless times in the past, and still haunted his sleep, despite the reassurances of his family and closest friends.

He was pulled from his trance-like concentration by the urgent call of a young ensign, who was saluting him snappily.

Wedge waved the salute away tensely. "Don't bother with that during battle, son. What do you want?"

Taken aback slightly by Wedge's gruff reply, the ensign stuttered for a second or two. "I, uh, I have a report from Lieutenant Ferale about some mysterious readings, Sir." He handed over a datapad nervously.

Wedge scanned the information quickly and frowned, looking questioningly at the ensign.

Seeing his look, the ensign visibly braced himself. "Uh, it's possible that it's just an asteroid but, given the lack of any other asteroids in the system and the fact that this anomaly is remaining completely stationary suggests otherwise."

Wedge surveyed the data again. It showed the anomalous readings of debris and interstellar dust near the edge of Yavin being inexplicably diverted from its normal orbital course. They were the kind of readings that asteroids usually threw up but, like the kid had said, there was no evidence of an asteroid being there. Especially a Dreadnought-sized one.

Wedge gave a nod and a flicker of a smile. "It would appear that we have a cloaked ship stalking us. Have you scanned for transmissions?"

The ensign beamed, suggesting that the cloaked ship theory had been his brainchild before continuing to say, "We immediately began to search for any signals but we've found nothing yet, sir."

Wedge nodded, his mind already turning over the data. "Well done, ensign, and thank you. Dismissed."

Wedge returned to his display once again, noting the signs of the five ships protecting the Star Destroyer starting to fail. He frowned as he looked it over again…if there was a cloaked ship hiding about 500 clicks out - and judging by the surety in the other commanders' tactics, there were no doubt more - then why had they not been called in to attack their relatively unguarded rear.

He contemplated moving some of his ships into a rear flank to protect them, but he knew that that would not only give away their knowledge, but it would slow the attack and prolong the battle, increasing the risk of loss of life. At the same time, not protecting them could do exactly the same, and they had no idea of the whereabouts of any other cloaked ships.

He was still mulling over the two choices when Pellaeon stepped to his side. "I couldn't help overhearing that young ensign…look, I know that whatever you do here, there's going to be a lot of loss of life, and I don't want that either. Allow me to broadcast to those ships…if this Hetarn has people out there and he's still letting those ships get hammered, then his people aren't going to be happy. "

Wedge stared at him for a moment, carefully weighing the risks…Pellaeon could just be about to give information away, but that didn't fit with the way that Leia had portrayed him, and the man's history. Finally coming to a conclusion, he nodded once and headed for the comms officer.

"Lieutenant, I want you to set up a wide comms transmission to all enemy ships, and for 600 clicks in every direction. Admiral Pellaeon is going to send them a message." He caught the Lieutenant's eyes and silently indicated for him to cut the Imperial off if he said anything untoward.

"Thank you," was Pellaeon's reply, his face hardened in anger.

Wedge said nothing as he returned to his post, delving once again into his own form of battle mediation.

One of the frigates was weakening rapidly and he quickly ordered a diversion of power within his own ranks to finish it off quickly, the usual grim mixture of satisfaction and horror setting in. There must have been thousands on that one ship alone.

* * *

Aboard the _Chariot of the Gods,_ Captain Shoreign Spun on his heels as it was announced that the frigate _Bothan Bounty_ had been destroyed. He spun back again, yelling '"WHAT?" as a nervous comms officer called for his attention.

"I'm receiving a transmission from the enemy ships, sir…it's carrying Admi- ex-Admiral Pellaeon's personal Identification Code…"

Shoreign frowned for a second. "Let me see it."

"…mey ships, this is Admiral Pellaeon, formerly of the Imperial Remnant. If you surrender now, the New Republic is willing to guarantee safe return to Imperial worlds for each and every one of you. The man who is leading you is playing with your lives…he could have saved the people aboard the _Bothan Bounty,_ but instead he let them die for his own amusement. Power down and surrender now and you may return to your families, and the better days of the Imperial Remnant…"

Shoreign blocked out the rest of the speech as he considered what Pellaeon had just said. Pellaeon was a man that he had respected and idolised during his time at the Academy and someone who had ruled without such atrocious loss of life…it didn't take much convincing as his face settled into a hardened grimace. He owed it to his men to do what he could to save them.

"Loop the message and play it over every audio feed in the fleet, along with the order to cease fire and return all fighters to their bays. We're going home."

He could only hope that the New Republic would keep its word, as it had in the past.

The comms officer gave a relieved nod and sent his fingers flying across the control board.

* * *

To start with, Zeke Brilt didn't move as his helmet's audio pickup clicked on, announcing first the loss of the _Bothan Bounty_ and then playing the message from Pellaeon. He had been ordered to stand guard just inside Lord Hetarn's quarters, and his training dictated that he not move a muscle unless ordered to do so.

He was a good soldier. Rarely thought for himself and did as he was told. If he hadn't been, then he wouldn't have been posted as guard to Lord Hetarn. Or at least, he usually was.

His brother had been aboard the _Bothan Bounty_, as had rather a lot of his friends from the Academy. And thousands of others. And Hetarn was capable of ordering the cloaked ships to give their assistance and blast the Republic scum into space dust. But he wasn't. He was enjoying it.

Within a split second, he had made his choice and aimed his standard issue rifle, firing multiple shots into his commander's back with cold, stormtrooper accuracy.

His co-guard looked at him, head on one side. "Looks like our Almighty Lord decided to make a run for it in his escape pod." His tinny voice came through his audio receiver.


	29. Convergence

**Chapter 29 – Convergence**

"General Antilles, sir…we're reporting a powering down of all enemy ships and the appearance of four additional Katana Dreadnoughts!" The Bothan officer's excited and relieved announcement elicited a cheer from the rest of the bridge even as Wedge ordered the cessation of all hostile activities.

"Sir, we're receiving a transmission from the Captain of _Chariot of the Gods_," the Comms officer added and Wedge nodded for the holo to be put up on the display, joining Pellaeon to respond to it.

"This is Captain Shoreign," The slightly staticky three-quarter figure stood respectfully as he spoke. "We're willing to surrender to the terms that Admiral Pellaeon laid out and request that he be reinstated as commander of the Imperial Remnant."

"What about Hetarn?" Wedge cut in before Pellaeon could reply.

There was a slight pause before the Imperial captain spoke, sounding somewhat bitter. "I have just been informed that Lord Hetarn fled in his escape pod just prior to the realisation of his defeat, abandoning the people under his command."

A glance to the Bothan sensor officer confirmed that an escape pod had indeed been jettisoned from the area consistent with an Admiral's private chambers.

"Thank you for being reasonable, Captain," Wedge replied, giving a respectful nod to the hologram before stepping away and allowing Pellaeon to define a few details for his reinstatement.

Beckoning another of his more senior officers up he ordered the Mon Cal woman to track the escape pod and send a team out t investigate and bring back Hetarn if her really was aboard it. "Go careful and go well armed; this guy's incredibly dangerous even on his own." He finished as Pellaeon cut off the connection to Shoreign. "You do realise this could be a trap, right?" He couldn't help but warn the Admiral.

Pellaeon shrugged, "better I lose my life than the fleets on both sides be obliterated." He replied with a wry smile.

Wedge nodded, feeling the weight that kind of decision weighed on even the strongest of leaders. It was a risk, but it had to be taken. "Good luck, then." Was all he could say before the man who had once been his enemy strode off toward the hangar bay.

Sighing and organising his thoughts, Wedge signalled for a connection to be set up to Luke and was disappointed to be told that the Jedi master was unavailable. Unwilling to leave his command at such a critical time he sighed and turned to other things, knowing that Luke would get the message and contact him when he could.

* * *

Luke helped wherever he could, feeling indescribably impotent as he applied Bacta pads to scrapes and blaster burns that had been received by a few of his pupils during the struggle with the troopers in the Great Hall. Most of the students who had been taken as hosts had been the newer, less experienced ones who had apparently been caught unawares whilst out on missions but Luke had been distressed to learn that one of his original students, Streen, had also been taken host. He could only imagine how the experience had tormented the already troubled man.

Those ex-hosts had been secured in a separate area of the medical bay, waiting to be examined since the more urgent casualties had been seen to but they complained only of headaches neck-aches that would no doubt ease in time and were hardly life threatening.

Giving the teenager he had just tended a reassuring smile, he walked over to meet Cilghal as she shuffled tiredly towards him. Motioning for her to sit down for a moment he inquired about the two most critical patients.

"From what I can tell Sam expended all of her energy reserves in an attempt to heal Jack." The Mon Cal's gravelly voice held an edge of fatigue that would ordinarily have been relieved through the Force. Their circumstances were anything but ordinary though. "She was successful as far as she could be but that kind of intense healing takes more energy than she had, even after absorbing so much more in the fight." Cilghal sighed and adopted an expression of her own species that Luke interpreted as a mixture of frustration and awe. "As she is prone to do in such cases, she over expended her energy and was saved only because she lost consciousness and her energy-giving bond. Her energy levels are almost non-existent but I think that she just might make it…its hard to tell though but she's a warrior, and she has something to live for now."

If he'd still had his command of the Force, Luke might have been able to detect the hopeful plea to the Force that Cilghal sent out. "What about Jack?"

"The damage is severe but survivable. Jacob Carter has retrieved what he calls a 'healing device' from his quarters and is working on him now." Cilghal smiled at this, obviously interested in studying the device at her first chance. "He has offered to aid the recovery of the other patients once he is done with Jack, though I suspect that it will be a while before he is free to do so.

Luke smiled and rested an arm on her weary shoulder, "Thank you. Get some rest now; you'll be more help once you're rested and others can take over for now." He knew that Cilghal had had very little rest before the attack and was pleased that she accepted the suggestion gracefully.

"Master Luke, Sir?"

"What is it Threepio?" Luke turned to address the golden droid, wondering what he could need him for now.

"General Antilles has requested that you contact him as soon as possible. He says that the Imperial's have surrendered and have accepted Admiral Pellaeon back."

Luke grinned and clapped Threepio on the shoulder, "Best news you've had all day."

He headed off to the comm centre, wondering what could have caused such a colossal turn around in Hetarn's attitude but hoping that it was true. If it was then he knew that they had started on the long, arduous road to recovery. Again. But this time much more enlightened to what was out there.

* * *

**Three years later…**

Nearly a quarter of a century since the Battle of Endor, where he'd found his father, only to lose him less than an hour later, Luke Skywalker suppressed a frustrated sigh as he surveyed the damage that scattered space opposite him. The image of a battlefield in space was one that he was far too accustomed to, the most recent before this being just under three years ago, when they'd fended off the attack of the power-crazed Goa'uld parasite from another galaxy.

Hetarn had been defeated not by the Jedi, or even the New Republic but, apparently by his own men. It held echoes of Thrawn's demise at the hands of the Noghri, but the Noghri had been incited into rebellion…there seemed to be no reason for Hetarn's betrayal. That meant that there were people within the Empire with at least a trace of humanity in them…or at least he hoped so.

Whoever it was had spaced Hetarn's body in his personal escape pod and told the rest of the fleet that, seeing that he was losing the battle their esteemed leader had left them to save his own skin.

As luck - or more likely, the Force - would have it, the escape pod came to ground only a short way from the main temple on Yavin 4 and Wedge's task force had recovered the remains of Hetarn's body, much to the relief of everyone involved. Recovered Imperial soldiers had been patched up where possible and returned to the newly restored Remnant under Pellaeon's rule. Order had been restored and they had recovered gradually. They had held a ceremony and created a memorial to those who had fought and died that day, an echo of the one's that had been set up over the years to remind them all of the struggles they had faced and the cost of it all.

Now, having had their view of the universe irreparably blown open by the realisation that there were entire galaxies out there populated by humans who'd doubtless shared ancestors with them, they'd turned their scanners outward to the rim of their own galaxy and it was toi here that Luke now gazed, his thoughts melancholic as he surveyed the destruction.

The stark direction his thoughts had taken reflected the stark desolation of the battlefield outside as small shuttles flew through it, scanning for any signs of life. This task was made harder for them because their sensors picked up not only the life signs of their own people, floating adrift in their ejector seats and waiting for recovery, if there was to be any, but the life signs given off by dying enemy ships confused things. He had sent out several Jedi to differentiate between friend and foe, puzzling over another thing that confused him. The Jedi could not sense their enemy at all, and the strange sensation of being able to see them, but not sense them had been disconcerting to start with but not unlike that of seeing the troopers who had taken over the Jedi temple three years before and being unable to sense them either.

The enemy's unusual use of biotechnology had caused the Republic to suffer greatly - many Jedi had been lost as well as military forces, but eventually the enemy fleet; a tenth of the size of their own, had pulled back but they doubted they would stay away for long.

Their hails to the sighted ships on the edge of the galaxy had initially been ignored, but eventually a face had appeared, scarred, distorted, and frightening in its ferocity. It had spat a few incensed sounding words at them before telling them in garbled basic that the Yuzhaan Vong would never surrender, and never stop until the heretics had been sacrificed to their gods.

Luke continued to stare unblinking out of the veiwport as he mused the events of the past few days, only to find himself almost blinded as a bright white flash filled the room. He reached immediately for his lightsaber, even as he used the Force to scan the room and remove the spots from his vision.

Sensing who it was, he relaxed and turned his vaguely watering eyes to the form, masking his intense surprise at seeing the three foot tall being stood there. "Commander Thor... what brings you here?" His confusion at seeing the small grey alien stood there so calmly left him unable to ask any more intelligent questions. He'd come to believe that there was no hope that the Asgard would ever return to their galaxy. His reading of the archives they had been given had made him aware of the immense guilt that the entire race seemed to feel over it, though he had sensed that there was more to it than they were letting on.

"Greetings Master Skywalker," Thor replied, blinking slowly, his body tense. "I must apologise for breaking the Asgard vow to never return to this galaxy, but the situation was most dire and O'Neill has impressed upon me the importance of contacting a person before transporting them away."

"You've got nothing to apologise for, Commander; it was your ancestors that committed the acts that so offended this…Sekot." It had been several years since Luke had read the data and some of the details of it were a little fuzzy, though he had made a promise to himself to research this amazing sentient planets that had allegedly once inhabited the galaxy …the Legend of Zonama Sekot had been mentioned by an old Jedi Holocron and he was curious about the implications of it. However, between the search and eventual recovery of the Stargate, and the sudden discovery of the ponderous approach of unknown vessels through the rift between galaxies he hadn't had time to think of it again.

Thor nodded, though Luke sensed that he was merely acknowledging what he had said and not agreeing with it.

Without further ado, Thor launched into his reason for arriving when he did. "Since dropping you at the edge of this galaxy I have been monitoring any reference to this galaxy in hope of finding out what the situation with the Goa'uld was. I had hoped the beings you have just done battle with would pass this galaxy peacefully, but unfortunately that is not their way. I-" Thor suddenly cocked his head and simultaneously a flicker movement in the corner of Luke's eye signalled to him the expected and tensely awaited arrival of a much greater enemy force.

"Excuse me," was all that Thor said before another flash of light heralded his departure.

His eyes no longer wide open and staring, pupils contracted against the artificial lights of the inside of the ship, Luke didn't find the beam offensive to his sight this time, though he was still surprised by it.

Broken out of his confusion by the insistent beeping of his comlink, Luke reached for it and answered distractedly, "Skywalker."

"Luke, are you okay?" The concern in Mara's voice touched him and he quickly assured her he was fine.

"It's okay…you'll never believe who I just saw though…"

He trailed off as suddenly an entire fleet of advanced ships of the like he'd only ever seen once flashed into view surrounding the enemy ships. There was a short pause before the ships began to pound at each other, the sleeker Asgard ships seeming to quickly disable the lumpy, but surprisingly agile forms of the Yuzhaan Vong ships. A few of the Vong managed to jump out of the system but the Asgard took very little damage. Luke barely had time to wonder how they Asgard had been able to circumvent the defensive power of the black-hole like voids that protected the Vong ships before the battle was over.

At the edge of his hearing, he heard Mara's voice as she unconsciously uttered an awed curse, and the echoes of elated whoops and hollers travelled to him from the crew of the ship.

"Meet me on the bridge," was all he said to Mara before heading there himself at a jog.

* * *

General Wedge Antilles stood on the bridge and stared, his ears deaf to the sounds of cheering that surrounded him. He'd been retired not all that long ago but was now stood on the bridge of a warship and had just witnessed the appearance of an entire fleet of ships of a technology he'd never seen before and who had just proceeded to more or less completely disable a force that doubled their own and had superior…he struggled with the appropriate term as he didn't think that 'technology' was the right word, as it all seemed to be organic. Nevertheless, a force a fraction of the size of the one that had just been obliterated had almost beaten them just a few hours before and yet these newcomesr had been able to chase them off with only a little damage to themselves…

The sound of his name being called finally broke into his awed reverie and he turned and greeted Luke, seeing Mara lithely jogging up behind him.

"What-" was all he managed before a bright white light deposited a small grey figure with them. At the first fleeting glance out of the corner of his eye, Wedge thought it was a Noghri, but then he turned and looked face-on and had a second to note the differences, though they looked as if they could be sister races. Although, on second thought the similarity was mostly in the short, thin, grey appearance. The newcomers looked considerably more docile and less like warriors. Plus there were no teeth… correcting himself, he decided that they probably weren't all that alike after all.

Another white light flashed and suddenly, stood on the upper deck of the Star Destroyer with them were two familiar figures. If the crew hadn't been so amazed by the transporter technology, they would have been rolling on the floor laughing at the image of the two Jedi appearing with their feet touching the floor and seeming as if they were quite happily sitting in a chair, their hands reaching for unseen controls.

Then gravity took hold and they both fell to the floor, though they had time to reflexively cushion their fall with the Force, landing softly and without hitting the inexplicably sensitive tailbone.

The taller, helmeted figure reached for the helmet clasps as he pushed himself off the floor. "For cryin' out loud, Thor, could you not have waited for me to stand up!"

"I am sorry, O'Neill, but I was under the impression that the ship had been safely docked aboard the _O'Neill_."

Moving to stand beside him and removing her own helmet to reveal a sweat and dirt-encrusted face, Sam rolled her eyes. "They were; literally a second before you beamed us out."

Thor blinked. "I fail to see what the problem is."

Jack threw his hands up in disgust. "Never mind. So what brings the Asgard to the forbidden galaxy?"

Wedge decided that then was about the right time to interrupt with a baffled, "_WHAT!"_

Luke smiled. "General Wedge Antilles of the New Republic fleet, this is Supreme Commander Thor of the Asgard fleet."

"Greetings, General Wedge Antilles."

"Right, hi…you're the guys who just obliterated the Vong fleet?"

Thor blinked, using his experience with humans - particularly O'Neill - to translate the unusual phrasing within his head. "Yes. I feel I must explain…perhaps it would be better if there were another place where we could discuss this?"

Wedge nodded and led them towards a door off of the bridge and into a side-room set aside for those who needed a few moments rest, ushering the people in there out with an apologetic smile.

Seating themselves gratefully all except Thor were suddenly overcome by a need to sleep as the adrenaline left their bodies.

Sam and Jack had been out in X-wings scouting for survivors long after the fourteen-hour battle had finished, using the Force to sustain themselves. Luke and Mara had been ordered in as they'd both been up and out trying to negotiate long before the attack had begun.

Looking slightly childlike in the human-sized chair, Thor immediately began, seeming to the people gathered rather like being there made him rather nervous.

"As you read in the files I gave you, the Asgard were once inhabitants of this galaxy, many millennia ago. At that time, we were a relatively primitive species, though still advanced by your standards. Factions of our race began to believe that genetic modification was the only way for us to advance, and it became a matter of course to either create a child in a laboratory, or to clone ourselves, though at that point we had no way to transfer our consciousnesses as we do now.

"At this time, there existed a species that is now extinct; their name has been forbidden from being spoken for so long that no one now remembers it. These beings were living planets with an immense consciousness that would appear and talk to us in a form that was familiar to us. They were very powerful, and warned us many times that the path we were taking would lead to our destruction. When we would not listen and certain factions began experimenting not only on our own species but also on other species, distorting them to fit our needs without any concern for the well being of others, the most powerful and oldest of the sentient planets banished us from the galaxy for our crimes, leaving us with only the cryptic message that life was precious and to distort that would leave only a false non-life.

"By that point in time, we had completely lost the ability to reproduce naturally, and two schools of thought arose within our people. Some left in search of a new home to try to restore to us what we had lost, though we didn't know what it was; the other faction left to form their own separate race based upon the belief that if it was natural, then it was right and technologies such as we use were the false ones and offended the higher beings.

"Those beings became the Yuzhaan Vong."

Thor fell silent and the people around him stared in a slightly awed, slightly horrified way.

After a few tense seconds, Jack broke the silence, "I still don't get how you managed to get around those void…things. They just sucked in everything we threw at them!"

"Our genetic technology has the same basis as the Yuzhaan Vong, and we have kept a close eye on their development, as well as ensuring that we had a way to defeat their defence systems." Thor explained. "It involves complex equations on the Centinyar to the wavelength of the polint-"

"Ah, okay, I get it, its because you're way cleverer than us!"

"And we have had much longer to acclimatise to the situation."

Jack glared at Thor and the alien took the hint to be quiet for a change.

"This thing that you lost, could it have been the Force? The Yuzhaan Vong are no longer connected to the Force but you are, though there is the staticky sensation that I would put down as being because you were cloned," Luke pondered aloud, connecting pieces of information that he had picked up over his years searching for Jedi heritage.

"It is possible, though I do not understand why we should be any different."

Here Sam jumped in, "Well, it's like you said; they started to mix up genetics and distort the natural order in a way that you have never done. The Vong mix up the genetics, but you just copy it."

"And from what I've seen, you try to help people and save lives where the Vong just kill everything that gets in their way, including their own people."

Thor nodded and considered this, some of the tension beginning to drain from his limbs. Obviously, the fact that they were related to a race so violent and destructive troubled Thor; or possibly, it was the idea that the Asgard had in some way redeemed themselves that put him more at ease.

"So…let me get this straight…you used to look like them?" Jack inquired, thinking back to the specimens they'd had of more human-looking Asgard.

"No. We both once looked alike but they have distorted their image through genetics and self-mutilation.

"Gotcha."

There was a brief pause before Wedge spoke up, asking the question that his own mind had kept returning to. "If you don't mind me asking, Commander, but why did you help us now when you refused to help in the situation with the Goa'uld?"

Thor cocked his head to one side. "The Asgard felt that it was our responsibility to deal with the Yuzhaan Vong because of our past. In addition to this, the Asgard have a treaty with the Goa'uld and to break this treaty would lead to the annihilation of entire planets of people."

"Ah."

Another silence followed and Thor cocked his head before explaining that the fleet was hailing him. He left in another beam of light, the depressions that his slight body had left in the conform-couch fading rapidly.

"What now?" Wedge asked, looking around.

Luke shrugged. "Now we clear up this mess, return things to as close to normal as we can and we try to track down Zonama Sekot."

Jack shook his head vehemently. "Now; 'fresher, bed…_then_ pointless tail-chasing for a dead planet."

Luke rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure Sekot's still out there…there were references made in the old Jedi holocrons to a ship-building planet that bonded to its pilot!"

Jack shrugged. "Whatever…I personally intend to get the 'gate working again, and go see what there is left of my home planet and the friends I left behind."

Mara stifled a smirk as Luke rolled his eyes at the un-diplomatic man who had gone on to autopilot as he grabbed Sam's hand and dragged her off toward their crew quarters before they both collapsed of exhaustion.

* * *

As they picked carefully through the rubble of the small, backwater planet's main town, Jack divided his attention between his footing and Sam. All she'd told him when they'd woken up from their long, regenerative sleep was that she _had_ to come down here, now. A dying Vong ship had vindictively shot at everything it could see before finally crashing to ground in the middle of this town. Destroying most of it and killing hundreds.

He couldn't help a wave of thankful relief that rose through him when he looked around, feeling terrible for thinking it but unable to help himself. _At least it wasn't Sam._

Without really thinking about it he reached a hand up to his chest, feeling through the material there the rings that they'd had made specially, though neither of them wore them on their fingers often. They were simple bands made out of an equivalent to white-gold; a touch of Earth and home that they had brought to their Jedi-wedding. The Jedi-wedding, similar in many ways to an American wedding on Earth but it had the added union through the Force, shown in the fitting together of two halves of a large crystal through the Force.

The decision hadn't been hard for him to make and the first thing he'd said to Sam when she finally woke up after nearly a week asleep following Hetarn's attack on Yavin 4 was "Marry me?"

She'd stared at him for a short while, trying to wrap her head around what he'd said before finally grasping it in her sleep-clouded mind and weakly saying 'yes'.

A few days later, he'd been entirely confused when she'd tearfully tried to break it off.

He'd finally coaxed out of her that she though he'd be better off with someone else, because she'd decided she wasn't good enough because that bastard slaver had scrambled her insides and left her infertile and unable to have children.

When he finally got that out of her, he'd been torn between the urge to slap some sense into her, and the urge to simply hold her. Sensibly, he'd gone for the second option, making her look into his eyes as he'd said simply, "I don't care."

They could always adopt, he'd explained; the entire galaxy was full of children with no parents and who wanted one desperately.

A shiver went down his spine as Sam's concentrated movements suddenly sped up, the tension in her posture increasing as the eerie keening of a baby in distress broke through the air.

Sam was almost running as she plunged ahead, converging on the noise. He struggled to keep up with her over the rough terrain, and within a few moments, she was stooping over what he'd though was a pile of rags.

He arrived to find that it was no pile of rags but a small bundle of blankets swaddling a tiny child.

The baby couldn't have been more than a few weeks old, and already it had a small cut on one shoulder and several bruises, its family obliterated.

Sam picked the young girl up and began cooing to her quietly. Jack reached out to the Force and scanned for any signs of life within a large area. The only one was that of the fragile little girl, although her Force sense blazed, showing signs that she would be strong in the Force.

He and Sam looked at each other, silently agreeing. The Force had led them there, and the child was the sole survivor. There was no doubt that they would adopt the orphaned child though they both knew that the would still search for the child's parents or family…after all, there was always hope.

* * *

"Unauthorised Incoming Wormhole"

Cocking his head at the announcement, Teal'c rose from his seat in the commissary and headed at a fast walk towards the control room. Since their return to the SGC, things had largely returned to the way they had been before, though there were a few changes.

The only way that they had been able to regain the SGC and eradicate the disruption in the CRDO had been a partial exposure of the SGC. Knowing, however, that there was no way that Earth was ready for that kind of revelation without a severe case of mass-hysteria and a complete lack of faith in their governments they had told only a partial truth. As far as the public were concerned the SGC was a facility involved in the research, construction and use of advanced space-capable ships that had been successfully launched. They also knew that it was a collaboration of all nations, even the most minor ones (after all they didn't want to create a reason for an increase in international terrorism).Once this had been done, the joint council that consisted mostly of countries from the UN, and a few from outside had decided that although the military aspect was needed, they didn't want it completely military run, nor did they want it to be solely US troops, which was reasonable, and Teal'c agreed probably would work out best, once they all stopped bickering like little children.

They had, quite wisely, Teal'c thought, even though he knew Daniel disagreed, chosen Doctor Jackson as the new leader. Daniel had only agreed on the condition that Teal'c was allowed to be head of the military/tactical side of things.

This also had been agreed to, though somewhat reluctantly. Between them, though, they had restored the staff who had been demoted, kicked out, fired or whatever during the CRDO's terrifying reign - the CRDO had cleared out anyone they though might oppose them or remain loyal to Hammond, even after he'd been forced into retirement, this time by the legitimate problem of his heart, which had sadly given up on him only a year into his retirement. They had all been sad at the loss of a great man, but they were also glad that he did not live to see the SGC fall to pieces, only to rise from the ashes after being partially 'outed' to the whole world through their efforts to stop the CRDO.

When he arrived at the control room, he found that Daniel Jackson was not there yet, and Master-Sergeant Davis was back in his habitual spot at the gate controls, staring as if he had seen a ghost.

"I-I-I," he stuttered and waved at the microphone dumbly, completely at a lost of what to do.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow and made a move to speak into the microphone but then a voice came through again.

"Hellooo? Anyone there? Are you sure this thing's on? Nobody's answering."

"Yes, I'm sure it's on, Jack. Maybe there's just no-one there…"

"But why would they leave the gate una-…oh, right."

Teal'c spun on his heel, pointing to a technician. "You; go and get Dr.Jackson now! Tell him that it is urgent." The terrified airman nodded and dashed off. And Teal'c turned back to the mic and hit the send button. "Identify yourselves!" he barked.

"Teal'c, buddy! See, Sam, I told you it was on. It's me, Jack O'Neill!"

"How can we be sure of your identity?"

"You mean you don't recognise my dulcet tones?" They heard a laugh in the background, followed by a muffled voice. "Of course I know what dulcet means! Come on, T, ask me something only I'd know. Or only Sam would know."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow, privately already convinced that no-one else could act quite like Jack O'Neill. "Very well. What piece of technology did I inquire about when I met you on Chulak for the first time?"

"What? Oh, wait, I know this one…my watch! You asked about my watch because it wasn't Goa'uld technology!"

"You are indeed Jack O'Neill."

"Told you so. You gonna open the iris and let us come visit then?"

Teal'c nodded to Davis, who put his hand on the palm-scanner. "The iris is open."

"See you in a few."

The room went silent as they waited and a few minutes later, the wormhole rippled and a small probe floated through. A few minutes more and three more human figures stepped through, along with the tall, lanky form of a Wookie.

Jogging down to the Gate room, Teal'c almost collided with Daniel, who found himself being dragged along by the exuberant Jaffa.

"Teal'c, what's going on the- JACK! SAM!" Daniel's jaw quite literally dropped.

"Lucy, I'm ho-ome!" Jack crowed, grinning and shifting the bundle he held in his left arm.

Teal'c smirked. "I am not Lucy," he dead-panned.

Daniel was still stuck on "Sam…Jack…baby…Jacob….'Tralla….baby…_baby!"_

Dentralla gave a loud urfing laugh as exactly what the bundle in Jack's arms was sunk in.

Moving to give the child a fond look and to allow her to grasp her finger, Sam positively beamed. "This is Jessa O'Neill, named for my mother, Jessica."

"You and Jack…?"

"Kind of; she's adopted."

Jessa burbled happily at the faces that peered at her, reaching out inquisitively at them.

"How old is she?"

"About six months…we don't know her actual birthday, so we're going to take the day we found her as her birthday."

"_Found_ her?"

"Long story…how 'bout we go to the briefing room?"

The entire stories of what had happened to each group would have taken forever to tell, so they stuck with the short versions for the time-being.

Having heard Jack and Sam's side while the doctor checked them out in the infirmary, having explained that Janet was at home on maternity leave, Teal'c told their side whilst 'uncle' Daniel played joyfully with Jessa.

"We spent two years gathering information and carrying out small operations where necessary. Eventually, our only way of bringing the group down was to expose the Promethius and the X302 projects to the entire world and allow them to judge the actions of the CRDO with the correct information and not what they were fed by the CRDO. DanielJackson was then made head of the SGC," he intoned seriously.

"That's it!" Jack asked incredulously.

"Yes."

"There's nothing more to it, you just did that….?"

"Yes. You asked for the short version, so that is what I gave you."

Sam laughed nervously and pasued a moment before asking the question that both she and her father dreaded the answer to. "What about my brother and his family?"

"Mark and Shauna are currently in the process of buying a large and rather expensive house and moving in, courtesy of the United Allied Governments as thanks for their efforts to stop the CRDO." Daniel supplied for them. "Tom and Jen are currently studying so that they can become part of the SGC and 'meet cool aliens like Teal'c' I think it was." Daniel grinned at them as both Jacob and Sam relaxed and Jessa giggled, picking up on their joy.

"Thank god they're okay," Jacob breathed.

Dentralla barked a comment and Sam's face twisted in self-reproach. "I nearly forgot; Leia asked that I suggest a treaty between us for trade of technology and information and the like to help stop the Goa'uld at both ends. Luke asked that I add in Jedi recruits as well."

Daniel raised an eyebrow. "When you say trade you mean-"

"Both ways; we give them info on the Goa'uld and tech that we know about but they don't, they give us things that they have but we don't. They're willing to give us X-wing plans and everything, so that we can use them to develop effective fighters and things as well as medical care and…well you get the idea."

Daniel beamed. "Sounds good to me."

Sam smiled, "Leia will come as official representative next time around, but for now…we've got to get home and get Jessa to bed."

Daniel's face dropped. "You're not staying? Janet will kill me if you don't go see her!"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Real tough there, Danny-boy."

Daniel scowled and ignored Jack.

"We'd love to, Daniel, but we have our own home now…we'll be back tomorrow morning though, at 0800 Earth time and _then_ we'll go see Janet and the family."

Daniel's face brightened again. Things were definitely looking up…Sam and Jack were back _and_ they had a kid, the SGC was sorted again and most importantly he was going to be a daddy. What more could a man want?

Except pie.


	30. Epilogue

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed all throughout the story, and especially to the people who stuck with it even though it took forever. You people make it all worth while.**

**Mostly thank you to Binksbabe, without whom this couldn't have been even half as good! Plus, I wouldn't have had the idea to start with :p She's the best beta a girl could ask for!**

**Finally before I leave you to it… if there's anything I missed please let me know so I can revise it (again) and sort it…I got kinda tied up trying to tie up all the loose ends, so it's entirely possible that I've missed something!**

**I'll stop gushing about the wonderfulness of the reviewers and my Beta now and leave you to it. Hope its up to scratch!**

**For the record, I have NO clue what Sam's mother's name was, so I made one up (Jessica sounded like it made sense to me for some obscure reason).**

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**Epilogue **

Mark knocked on the door with gusto, more than a little impatient to get himself and his family out of the cold. Jen and Tom were with them for the Mid-term break and to visit their honorary family while they still could.

When the door opened, he saw the last person he would ever have expected to be stood there.

"Auntie Sam!" Before he could move, Jen had pushed her way through and engulfed her long-gone aunt in a terrific hug, which was returned with gusto.

Before anyone else could monopolise her, she pulled them all in from the cold, waving at the door so that it shut, much to their surprise. Daniel and Teal'c had told them all about Sam and what had happened to her, but it was another thing entirely to see her using this 'Force'.

Having shared a group hug with them all - through which Sam had fidgeting excitedly - Sam stepped back to let another person into the hall with her.

Jacob stood rather sheepishly for a moment, wondering if Mark would reject him or not before he was distracted by shrieks of 'Grandpa!' as the kids flew at him. Once he saw the tears in his fathers eyes as he embraced his grandchildren and held on to them as if for dear life, Mark found that he couldn't hold his anger toward him. He didn't doubt that it would reappear at some point, but for now, all was forgiven.

Once the reunion with the family was done, Sam grinned again. "Okay, there's a few more people, but two in particular…" she told them mysteriously, obviously enjoying the excitement and suspense.

She looked towards the door and grinned. "Mark, meet your brother-in-law Jack O'Neill and your niece, Jessa." Although she addressed Mark, the introductions were directed at the entire family as Jack walked in, his daughter cradled protectively in his arms.

Before they had more than a few seconds to absorb that information, Sam beckoned her niece and nephew. "I hear you two wanted to meet a really cool alien?"

At that introduction, Dentralla walked in, ducking her head through the low doorway. Both kids were immediately awed and, despite being in their late teens couldn't help their excitement.

Finally Corran, Mirax, and Valin were introduced, the young boy finding himself enjoying the things that the rest of the planet took for granted immensely.

Once everyone had greeted everyone else; Jen and Tom happily greeting Daniel, Teal'c, Janet, Cassie, and 'the bump' for the first time in a while and those that were unfamiliar with her met Selmak they began to settle down, adjust to and compare the differences and sharing stories about ridiculous things that this person or that person had done.

For the first time in who knew how long, Sam felt truly content. There was no impending disaster, no war to go off and fight; she had a wonderful family, and honorary family, she got to do things that she loved and she had a home. Yavin was her home now, but she also knew that she would always be welcome here, and that she could always come back whenever she wanted.

She had freedom.

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Please review; I love to know what you all think of it!


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